Having my life saved...

Playlist

Various - October Hit Singles

As a caveat to some of the more, shall we say, "melodramatic" writing in this and the following posts, a gallbladder removal is supposed to be one of the simplest ops there is - wherein the patient has had ample indication of its need - through ongoing symptoms - and the op itself is normally a keyhole procedure with no complications - none of that applied here - there was no pre-warning and the state of my gallbladder left much to be desired - anyway, onwards...

A day spent mostly feeling sorry for myself...

I had spent the night in the chair by my bed, this my less than happy visage just before 8am...

I made it through with the help of intravenous fluids, morphine and antibiotics plus other oral painkillers of the kind to give you hallucinations variety...

Around midday I had to go for a CT scan as the surgeon on my case wanted confirmation of what yesterday's ultrasound appeared to have shown...

Only problem was that I was in so much pain I couldn't breathe when I tried to lie down on the bed that would put me through the CT machine...

An extra special dose of morphine was sent down from the ward and I was soon sufficiently flexible to have my insides photographed as required...

Mid afternoon, Mr Patterson-Brown advised my gallbladder would have to go - he'd try keyhole but it might have to be full blown cut open surgery - so I signed on for both - the alternative at that point seemed like antibiotics for a few weeks and removal in a couple of months once the inflammation had died down...

What we didn't know was that the alternative to taking it out now was very much worse indeed...

To theatre at 4:15 and, although I don't recall much about it, back to the ward around 9:30 or so for a good night's rest, Mr Patterson-Brown having done his work...

Highlight of the Day : Operation...