#dabritz

 Before Surgery: 

I was due to have surgery on 04/06 so I arrived in Manchester the night before and checked into my hotel. However that evening my operation was cancelled due to an emergency in Miss Dabritz personal life. The next day it was scheduled in for the 10th so I decided to just stay in the North rather than go home and come back. I did a bit of tourist stuff in Manchester and visited family.  My hotel check out date was the 6th but luckily I went to stay with a friend near by for the remainder of the trip so didn’t have to extend the hotel.  On the day: 

I was scheduled for an 11.30am arrival so I got up early, packed everything I would need and waiting for my Dad to pick me up. 

Packing list: 

travel neck pillow, eye mask, ear plugs, toothbrush & paste, trakkies, boxers, button up shirt, laptop, phone & chargers, slippers. 

We arrived at the hospital and waiting in a quiet waiting room in the day surgery unit. I saw a couple of people at intervals, first the admissions nurse, then the anaesthetist and finally I was called through to change, my Dad wasn’t allowed to come with me but that’s okay. I appreciated the quiet time.  My surgeon came to mark my chest up and then I was taken down to the theatres.

One of the Machines wasn’t working in the anaesthetic room so I was put under on the operating table. I didn’t mind because I’m not afraid of medical stuff and all the staff were very friendly. I was given a different anaesthetic to the one I have last time, this one made my head swim and it felt like actual passing out rather than falling asleep. 

I woke up what felt like seconds later, very woozy but not in pain. I don’t remember much from the 2 hours I spent in recovery. My first clear memory is seeing my Dad as I was wheeled into my bay on the ward. He had brought me a kitkat to go with the Ensure I was sipping. 

The ward was a male urology ward and is the usual ward that guys who have top surgery go to apparently (F3). All the nurses were really good and friendly and it was fairly quiet, though having the eye mask, neck pillow and ear plugs was 100% necessary!. 

That night I felt fine, tender and carrying my drains around but no major pain. I could stand up and walk around, I even changed into my own clothes unassisted and went to the toilet. The next day I had more pain due to a small bleed from one of my drains that caused swelling. This delayed my discharge by a few hours because they had to make sure it wasn’t a hematoma. It wasn’t, and my buddy came to pick me up that afternoon.