Awake. Pulse normal, blood oxygen normal, blood pressure normal which is unusual because I normally take tablets. I’ll have to watch that. Blood sugar back to normal after skyrocketing with the bourbon biscuit binge on Tuesday after the op. Hey it was all about recovery.
Still is for the next couple of weeks when the hip is expected to be sore. I’m taking home powerful morphine pills and liquid. No idea what. The nurses keep rattling off names but the only one I recognise is paracetamol.
Cup of tea in bed now before breakfast service at eight am ish. Bacon roll and toast and marmalade this morning. Must remind them about the brown sauce as I think I forgot. When I get home I have requested a cheese and onion crisp sandwich. If today isn’t the day there will never be a right day to have a cheese and onion crisp sandwich. Or a wrong one.
Rob picking me up at ten this morning which is v good of him. It will be worth a few beers in exchange. It’s only an hour home. The issue will be getting the leg into the car. Should be ok with the front passenger seat pushed right back. Otherwise I’ll have to sit across the back seat.
Then it’s a chill out day at home getting used to my surroundings. Might seem a strange thing to say considering we’ve lived in that house for 29 years but I won’t be able to use the sofas for a while. Tom and THG have moved the high armchair from the shed into the living room for me. Needs to be of a height such that my knees don’t have to bend more than 90 degrees. 22 ½ inches apaz. The bed will just about be ok.
Taking it easy on the right leg this morning. Did a lot of exercises yesterday and it was quite sore by the afternoon. Par for the course. THis morning, having been lying still all night, the right leg is not as mobile as it will be later when I’ve exercised it a little more.
I use a grabber to pick things up off the floor as I’m not allowed to bend down but last night I leant on it and it broke. Actually I haven’t had to use it much because there are lots of nice people around to do things for me. I do have another at home and this one will superglue ok but I had to improvise getting my pyjama bottoms on last night. A crutch came to the rescue. I had forewarned the nurse that I might need a hand (ooerr) but fortunately I managed on my own. It’s good to think I’ll be soon able to look back at this time of immobility and crippledom and move on to the sunlit uplands.
The challenge for this morning is getting my undies and kecks on. I must have managed ok somehow yesterday. I should be able to pack my bag and someone will carry it downstairs for me. I might even get wheeled to reception. Wheeeee. Suspect they want me to fork out thirty nine quid for the crutches. The one thing the insurance co doesn’t pay for apaz. We shall see. They take amex.
Been a bit of a result having insurance cover. There would have been no change out of nineteen grand otherwise. Ok I’d have put it all on amex and got thirty k avios out of it but nineteen grand buys you a lot of flights. Or just two first class returns somewhere exotic.
Waiting for the NHS would not have been a serious option. I wouldn’t even have had the first consultant appointment yet had I waited, let alone have had the operation. Would probs have spent the next couple of years in a wheelchair, my soreness was that bad. Bone grinding on bone.
The same consultants operate for the NHS as in private but I was able to choose the surgeon based on recommendations from friends in the business and not just who was on offer in Lincoln. This really is a two tier system we have in the UK. I am a fan of the NHS but needs must.
Just waiting for me bacon roll now. I’m mostly packed and after brekkie will just need to get dressed and ready for the discharge process which will take a little time as there will be some explaining of drug taking timing to be made and understood. I will need to make notes.
The experience at the Park Hospital has been brilliant. The real world now beckons!