Day 1 of Endo Brow lift, bilateral upper eyelid reconstruction, upper left eyelash ptosis repair and upper right eye ptosis repair
I had a Y-V endo brow lift, bilateral upper eyelid reconstruction, upper left eyelash ptosis repair and upper right eyelid ptosis repair with Jane Olver at the Wellington Hospital todaym Mon 5th Dec 05. The surgery lasted about 2 hours.
I haven't been able to see properly to nor felt up to posting much till now; and will post sporadically with lots of rest in between posts before I publish this.
I didn't sleep the day before surgery as I was worried that if I did, I may miss hearing the alarm clock and miss the surgery :) so I stayed up all night making last minute final preparations etc and packing.
It felt weird being at a different hospital to that which I was used to, which was the Blackheath Hospital and the journey was fairly long, ie had to take a taxi to North Greenwich tube station, and then pull suitcase through the crowded hustle and bustle of Monday morning commuters heading to work at 7am in the morning. It was freezing when I got out at the other end at St Johns Wood tube station and was about a 5 min walk from the station.
Reception seemed less friendly and homely than it does at Blackheath Hospital which has a homey atmosphere which is what I loved about it. Though I was seen to within minutes and taken to my room by the porter. My male nurse arrived within a few more minutes to introduce himself and talk me through my medical questionnaire. I think I was able to change into my medical gown before Jane and her fellow (who was accompanying her at the surgery) came in to go through more questions and to reclarify what I was having done.
Jane said she had a couple of short procedures to do before she saw to me, as she wanted to spend time on my procedure and I had to wait till about 1030 hrs before the anaesthesist came in to discuss my case history and my reactions to anaesthesia. He was nice (smiles). I dozed off every now and then while I waited for my turn and then someone came in with a robe and for the first time I walked to the theatre (at Blackheath Hospital I am usually wheeled in).
I was feeling really cold, and had goosebumps though the anaesthesist and another man there made me feel at home. The anaesthesist said I had geriatric veins and blood pressure (grins) as my veins were too small and my blood pressure too low :) and he missed the first time to get a vein and had to try again but it wasn't too bad. Usually there is a cold sensation as the anaesthethic goes into my veins though I didn't feel that too much this time - at the last surgery I felt my heard beating faster and faster and heard my voice trailing into the distant as I spoke about how my heart was beating fast though this time, it all happened smoothly as the anaesthethist injected the anaesthethic, I slowly drifted off and my eyes closed.
I was fairly alert on waking (so I heard the anaesthethist mention) as I wanted to get out of bed and empty my bladder. He said that I'd lost a lot of blood in my head and they'd had to use a drip hence why my bladder was full. I felt alert and tried to get out of the table to go empty my bladder (that was funny). One of the nurses said I had to wait at the recovery area for 20 mins and I kept asking if the time was up yet as I really really needed to empty my bladder! They eventually wheeled me back to my room and I gratefully used the toilet!
I remember feeling like my eyelashes were inverted and sticking into my eyeballs or that lots of little injections were in my eyeballs and there being lots of pain especially as I couldn't shut my eyes or blink. I was tearing a lot. I remember asking for something for the pain but the nurse on duty said they couldn't give me anything yet as it was too soon. I remember being in a daze and giving myself reiki and half falling asleep sitting up as I did so, trying to ease the pain.
The anaesthesist came in at one point and was very kind and concerned. I remember him saying something about the anaesthesia wearing off fast hence the pain and it was either pain or nausea and I asked if he could give me something for the pain as if I could give it a score of 10, I'd say the pain was 10 out of 10. Perhaps that was a big mistake as for hours after that I suffered from a lot of nausea and they gave me injection after injection in my arm and butt for the pain and/or nausea (I can't remember now).
I couldn't eat anything that afternoon nor anything for dinner as I felt nauseaus and slept a lot on and off while they came in to wash my eyes, and pump me full of medication, steriods, antibiotics, eyedrops, injections amongst taking my blood pressure etc.
Throughout my stay at the Wellington Hospital, all I heard from the nurses and hospital staff including fellows etc was how wonderful a surgeon Jane Olver was. That gave me a lot of reassurance (smiles) and it was nice to hear that she had a great supporting crowd behind her.
Thread on the Make Me Heal Forum: http://www.makemeheal.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=122
No comments:
Post a Comment