Finally ...

I know this isn't really ship related and may not be of much interest - except for anyone undergoing the same procedure perhaps - so here goes.

So - I turn up at 7am again on Monday 3rd August and go through the same procedures. My surgeon pops in to remark my leg and I said - just as long as I have a bed ...  His reply was that he had been on call all weekend and it had been busy!! Oh no!! In any event he had his rounds to do so I would not be going anywhere until about 10.30 so I settled in for a long wait. The other lady waiting with me for the same operation had a different consultant and disappeared about 9am.

About 11am the anaesthetic nurse came for me and we walked to the anaesthetic room. I had to sit on the side of the operating table with my feet on a stool while needles and wires were attached or pushed into me - the operation is done under spinal anaesthetic and sedation. Once the injection was done I had to swing my legs up and lay down flat and was pushed into theatre. The anaesthetist sprayed and cold fluid on various bits of me to check where I could and couldn't feel anything and that is the last I remember.

I woke up as I was being transferred onto a bed and wheeled into recovery. I was checked repeatedly and given water to sip through a straw. My knee was heavily bandaged and two drains were syphoning blood into a bag. This was given back to me later as a autologous blood transfusion.

As I became more aware I realised there were about four or five patients here, all waiting for beds and wards! That was when I heard the welcome words - this patient can have a free upgrade to the Waterside Suite  - the private wing of our local hospital. OK, maybe it had been worth the set backs!

I was eventually wheeled downstairs to room 9a - two rooms side by side with a doorway between us and a shared bathroom - not quite private but close enough for me. from now on it was down to me, my nurses and physios to get fit enough for discharge four days later.

The room and large screen TV were free but I didn't get the Waterside food. Possibly this was as well! Next morning they took me off the morphine pump I was attached to, and gave me it in tablet form whereby I was violently sick. Dosed with cyclizine I felt much better. I finally got a look at my leg.

 

 

The outside bandages were removed and the two drains pulled out - ouch! Then the two nurses helped me out of bed and into the chair whilst they made the bed. Twice a day physios came and put me through a series of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles around the knee. Initially I had to use a walker or zimmer frame, progressing to two crutches by day three.

 

On the evening of day 3 I was moved to another normal NHS ward, going home that next afternoon.

 

The wound was checked by my practice nurse and the dressing changed - giving me a first look at the 35 metal staples holding me together!

 

 

Last Monday I attended the first session of group rehab in the hospital gym followed by my surgeon checking everything and removing the staples. from now on it is down to me and the physios.

 

Whilst my consultant is happy (assuming nothing changes for the worse) for me to cruise on Arcadia, I did make the decision to cancel my two-nighter on Azores this week. Ironically I booked this cruise to use the 50% reduction given to me by Cruise & Maritime after the Funchal fiasco. Then - what did they do but reduce our port time in Dublin by over half - from 12 hours to 4! As it also involves a 3 hour coach ride up to Liverpool, and a potentially bumpy crossing of the Irish Sea, I felt I didn't want to risk anything happening before Arcadia. Sad but pragmatic.

 

So hopefully my next blog will be the start of the Arcadia cruise to the Adriatic. I have only sailed on her once before so it will be good to see her again.

 

A long break

It has been quite a time since my last post so I thought it time for an update. Well - I have my new knee, but not without a few dramas first!

The date given to me by the hospital for my operation was 20th July - fine I thought, as I should be recovered enough for our cruise to the Adriatic on Oriana leaving 10th September. I soon had a phone call saying sorry, emergency patient needs the slot - your operation has been put back to 27th July. Now it was beginning to worry me but my surgeon still seemed to think I would be OK to travel as no flying is involved.

Because I was working on the 20th instead of being in hospital, I spent my lunchtime doing some last minute shopping in our High Street - and managed to trip over those horrible bubbly bits of pavement by pedestrian crossings. Now I know they are there to assist the partially sighted, but for those of us with foot and leg problems they are murderous. Anyway - one pair of broken glasses and a trip in an ambulance later ..... Because I fell flat on my face - literally - and my metal-framed glasses broke and jabbed into my forehead, I required patching up in A&E. Of course my biggest worry then was would I still be OK for my op the following week. Several x-rays later, I was assured I should be and that the bruising to my knees was just that - nothing broken. Phew - I was actually very lucky I didn't break my nose.

So - 7am, Monday 27 July and a friend picks me up to take me to the hospital. I check in at the theatre receiving unit, undress into my theatre gown, go through remaining paperwork, a TED stocking is put on my good leg, I take two paracetamol as required and the surgeon marks up my leg. I then take a seat in the waiting area to be called into theatre. A nurse arrives and then tells me the devastating news that there are no beds and I have to go home! Now I know this is not the end of the world BUT, when you are keyed up for a big operation, AND you have made all the complicated arrangements for afterwards, which are not easy when you live alone - I was stunned.

The staff were all very nice about it but it didn't alter the fact I was put back again!  I also could not believe the incredible waste of precious NHS resources - I was not the only one sent home, a man was too, so there were at least two surgeons and two anaesthetists with nothing to do! as well as two empty operating theatres.

I dressed in a daze when a nurse came to say the patient access team were on the phone with a new date - 17th August! That meant I would definitely have to cancel Oriana!

As I turned up at work - well I wasn't off sick any more - friends could not believe what had happened. That afternoon the patient access team phoned again and said they didn't want me to have to cancel my holiday so have brought me forward to 3rd August!!

I still thought that tight so my friend and I decided to cancel Oriana and switch to a very similar cruise on Arcadia leaving 10 days later. I was mentally exhausted!