Yat in Hospital

My food

I noticed a giant needle and tap on my hand after the surgery ...

Waking up right after the surgery, looking a bit confused

Obligatory body picture in front of the mirror.

Friday 20/06/2008
Woke up having nausea and stomach pain. Slept all day, vomited all day.
Food - One slice of white bread

Saturday 21/06/2008
9:00am
Nausea subsided but stomach pain became more acute towards lower right abdomen. Not a good sign!
10:00am
Called NHS Direct for health advice. The advice was that I should go see a doctor. Not good!
12:00am
Went to Walk-In Clinic. Waiting time 2.5 hours. Not good!
3:00pm
Saw a nurse, who was worried, and she called for a doctor, who was worried, and he gave me a letter saying that I need to go to A&E next door. On the envelope he wrote in bold capitals "SURGICAL". Not good!
4:00pm - 7:00pm
Lots and lots of waiting. Lots of weirdos in A&E, old people, bleeding people, drunk people, angry people, bored people ...
7:00pm
Saw various doctors and nurses, got some blood sample taken but the nurse left a tap on my arm and put me on a drip. Not a good sign!
8:00pm
I was told by the doctor that I had appendicitis and will have to stay for the night. Depending various circumstances I might be operated at 2am. I reiterated that I wanted a keyhole surgery instead of an open surgery. I had to keep saying that it is important for me to get minimal scaring because I will need to expose my body for professional and private reasons...... Before surgery I was not allowed to eat or drink anything. I was put on various types of drips, yum ...
9:00pm - 12:00am
I was sent to wait in a general 8-person ward. Bored, hungry, tired. The male nurse reheated some microwave curry from Tesco at 11:00pm, the whole ward smelled of curry, yum ...
Joakim brought me clean clothes and some magazines, which I will read over and over again for the next two days.
1:00am
I was transferred to a 4-person surgical ward. My neighbours looked a lot more "hospitalised", one guy was vomiting throughout the night, one guy kept moaning from pain. Not a good sign!
2:00am
I was told that my surgery will take place tomorrow instead. In the meantime I am not allowed to eat anything so I was put on more drips ....

Sunday 22/06/2008
8:00am - 6:00pm
Woke up, fell asleep, woke up, reread my magazines, fell asleep, woke up, reread my magazines, fell asleep
12:00pm
My colleague Silje visited me. I was wearing an operation gown which basically only covers my body in the front. I was glad that I had a pair of shorts on when I walked to the meeting room, not knowing that she was visiting!
7:00pm
Wheeled to the theatre, put in anaethetics, system shut down
9:00pm
Woke up, checked my body and was relieved that I got a keyhole surgery, yay! Fell asleep again.
Note: I hadn't eaten anything for 3 days!

Monday 23/06/2008
8:00am - 4:00pm
Woke up, fell asleep, woke up. Nurse said if it is too painful for me to walk to toilet she will put a tube in my penis and drain my pee to a plastic bag. I promptly sat up and walked to the toilet because I didn't want a pee bag!
8:30am
Joakim visited and was chased away by the nurse in about 5 seconds. Visiting hours apparently start at 2pm.
5:00pm
Libon visited, I was checked out of the hospital.
6:00pm
Libon and I had a huge Pakistani meal with lots of curry. Yum! (but perhaps not the best thing to eat right after surgery!)

The above experience can be summarised into the following keywords:
- Waiting
- Staring
- Sleeping
- Waiting ...