It all seems like a funny game, I keep grinning as I get into the little white gown that ties at the back, laughing at the splashes of flesh shooting out through gaps in hospital gowns and curtains, mum says, ‘now this is the point where you become a patient, not a student nurse’. i feel like i know what’s going on, what all the medical staff are doing and why, it just feels like another hospital experience, where i am just an observer, and don’t expect anything to go wrong.
Mum and I have a good chat, we talk about assertivness and my fears about nursing, and I tell her my newest theory about myself. She is caring and lovely and doesn’t seem to mind talking all about me, yet again. we laugh at how hairy I look against the expanse of white sheets.
When the theatre nurse comes in she repeat herself a bit and I wonder how she is, she says, ‘we are going to theatre now’ I say ok, grinning, mum asks how long they think I’ll be, the nurse rekons only half an hour. As they wheel me into theatre we pass a sign that says you must get all gowned up past this point, I feel excited, I can’t help grinning as they wheel me to the waiting bay for Operating Room #3. they leave me there and say they will go look for the Dr, I sing to myself and watch the OR room, look at all the equiptment around me, and watch an asshole of a Dr yelling at my theatre nurse, she is crying and several other nurses comfort her, which I think is nice. I am annoyed about the Dr. I drift off but try to be awake when anyone comes in. They come in later to tell me the Dr forgot daylight savings, he is an hour late, I am amused. My Nurse has stopped crying and comes in to chat to me, I ask questions and she is happy to explain some of the equiptment and things to me, later I am glad to have had the extra time to chat to her before we go in.
People seem fascinated by my growth, some ask questions like ‘why did you let it get that big?’ I explain politely but think they should get some tact. (in my nursing pracs I have noticed that there is a general increase in sensitivity among nurses with younger patients and especially with body image stuff).
The aneasethtist comes in, looks at my finger, puts a drip in my right arm, hooked up to antibiotics, he tells me I will have a general anesthetic, i was supposed to have a local and he says he thinks general would be better, he will talk to the surgeon.
he leaves, my arm feels weird and I need to pee, I keep moving my arm to try and get it comfortable.
When the surgeon gets there it is all rush, they take me in to the operating room, he tells me I will have a general anaesthetic. i am kinda happy about this because i am starting to get anxious and not sure If I could handle watching it, or the pain. i get onto the operating table, and the nurse gets a warmed blanket for me (this is nice, when I come out my body shakes like anything when I get up, I am quite cold but don’t notice.)
I am glad she is there, she touches my arm and helps me get sorted for the anaesthetist. The anaesthetist tells me to put my chin up and smile, i am already smiling because I am happy and nervous about being operated on, he says ‘this will hurt’ and ‘keep smiling’ and I do. Then I don’t know what happens… my thumb is cut, stitched up, the bag of fluid I started with must have finished as I have a different one when I wake up, hartmanns, maybe because I lost blood, and my body is on a different bed, although I didn’t help that happen.
I wake up in recovery an hour or two later, laughing and thrashing, and pulling off my mask, I hear the nurse saying ‘you’re a happy one aren’t you?’ and ‘I think we’ll keep that on’ tightening the mask. When I stop giggling I start asking questions, ‘whats that?’ ‘what my blood pressure?’ the nurse answers me, asks about my pain and gives me some phenergen, and tells me to stay still she says after my next set of obs I can go through to day stay recovery. I don’t remember that she is the nurse that had me before the op for a long time. Back in recovery mum comes in, kisses me and informs me I look pale. After iv drunk and eaten a bit she takes me to the toilet on my slow funny legs, with my body shaking vigerously without my recognition of being cold at all. Mum and I giggle as I do a huge pee, and then we just hang around, get stuff sorted and go home. Where I crash a bit.
I wish I knew what happened, more about the operation, it is so funny imagine the roll that you do for an unconscious patient being don’t on me, and me havigg no memory, I want to know how the surgery went, and if they knocked me out partially because they didn’t want me asking questions…
The anaesthetist came to see me and asked how I was, when I said sore he said he wasn’t surprised as I was ‘heavily anaesthatised’ and still moving my arm :)
