Back home with joy!

What a relief that it is all over.

They took me in a little earlier than the 10 a.m. as the person before me could not be operated on for some reason.

The pre-operation time was well spent at the Hamilton General, changing into a hospital gown, pinning my large print sign onto it, and talking with the nurses who were attending me.

One was a male nurse Brian and the other was a female nurse called Mary-Anne.  Both were very nice.

It does seem very strange to me to have a male nurse in attendance but I saw that the hospital wards are not segregated now.  Jeff had a woman in his room.  I noticed she kept her curtains closed all the time I was there visiting him.

I know in Quebec, for some years now, this has been the normal.

I would not be very comfortable with that.  I would prefer all women in the room.

Be that as it may, fortunately I did not have to stay after the operation.

The surgeon came in to speak to me  and I mentioned to him about the problems I had the first time and he said that I may be more sensitive to pain than others but they would do their best for me.

He explained that they would take the machine out, replace it and put in a new lead to replace the faulty one.

When I asked who the doctor of Anesthetics would be, I was told it was a woman.  As you can imagine, my heart sank so to speak and I point blank asked if it was the same woman as I had the first time.  You cannot imagine how relieved I was when I heard the doctor's name and knew it was not her.

This doctor, Hanna, came to see me, chatted with me, asked about other operations I have had, and because of that and her knowledge of her field, she found a local anesthetic which worked on me.

She used the same one as they used in the Henderson Hospital for the hip replacement. I did not know it was a local anesthetic at that time.

This wonderful doctor Hanna, sat right beside me in the operating room, talked to me, talked to her workmates but stayed right there with me.  In fact, I even joined in the conversation when they were talking about trips to Spain.  I had to bring my CPAC machine into the operating room but Hanna felt that with a oxygen mask on me, I would be fine and she was right.

After I finish this blog, I shall phone the hospital and tell them what a great team they had working on me and especially praise this dear lady.

I found out something, the anesthesiologist only comes in twice a week and the other times, the nurses give the anesthetic.  I am so thankful that Hanna was on duty that day.

The nurses would not have had sufficient knowledge (I would think) in order to change the anesthetic like she did.  The standard one does not work on me at all.

Ken stayed the whole time with me, but obviously, in the waiting room.  The operation was an hour and a half, then I was brought back to the unit where I started out and observed for about two hours or a little more.

The male nurse helped me to get back into my clothing and Ken had to carry even my purse for me as it weighs a ton!  All joking aside, I am so fortunate that he is a strong man, as I had my heavy purse and the CPAC machine with me all the time.  My suitcase was kept in the car and would be brought in only as needed.

He drove me up to Augusta where my pharmacy is and filled the two prescriptions, one for pain and the other an antibiotic. They were great there, they filled them immediately.  Normally there is a 24 hour delay in filling prescriptions but in the case of leaving the  hospital, they seem to make an exception.

It does pay to stick to one drugstore as they know you.  We then went to Ken's place and I sat outside on the front porch and enjoyed the flowers and the greenery and people going by.

Ken cooked supper and we ate outside on the patio at the back.  It was wonderful to be outside on the day of one's operation and to be in good company!

I decided that I felt well enough to go home so they drove me back home, Ken brought up all the heavy things and I just rested after that watching t.v.

He called this morning and left a message.  He is a good son.  My daughter and her husband also called from Kitchener.  I am so blessed to have such good children, including my son-in-law Bill.

As part of the recuperation for six weeks, I am not allowed to lift anything over ten pounds which means groceries, a child, in my case, a heavy cat, or reach up to anything on that side.  If I need to put a sweater on, I have to put the left side on first, and then put the right on.  For twenty four hours after the operation, I cannot drive (don't anyway) nor make any major decisions etc. etc. etc.

It is almost the same as the hip replacement procedures.

I am so thankful for all those wonderful people who prayed for me and for Sachin my neighbour who spoke to the operating doctor, and for the idea which came out of my brain, to pin a note to the hospital gown.  Everybody on the team read it.  I would sincerely recommend people do that if they have any problems as the people do read it.

On that note, I will close for now, thank you for all your prayers and positive thoughts and the love and concern which was shown to me during this difficult time.