...at the local private hospital, doing urgent elective work for the NHS at the moment..
I have had a minimally-invasive microdiscectomy, laminectomy, and nerve decompression.. I hope, soon, to have a working leg...
This post is an edited version of a couple of emails, saving on good writing and low energy! I sent this one just before I went in
<<Should only be in overnight, but I will have 6 weeks of no lifting, twisting, or bending (haven’t quite worked out how putting on socks goes with this*). I plan to take orders but not send anything for the sewing-machine stuff for three weeks at least. Did my last batch of post last night (four tescobags full (new measurement, officially recognised by the EU))
The hospital is private and only doing surgery; own room, shower etc, so not too appalling or noisy for a night. And the surgeon has a great reputation, and is something of a pessimist. I have had enough of optimistic surgeons; the one who last had his knives into John was full of “Oh, he’ll be home in three days and walking just fine” which turned out to be a nightmarishly noisy and disturbed 8 days and never walked further than the bathroom again… I prefer pessimistic.. He also has a terrific reputation and I keep coming across people he has fixed..
The pre-op stuff, which last time with John was 3-1/2 hours trailing round endless chunks of hospital with a wheelchair and Paul to push same, was almost all done on the phone, while I sat in the garden and drank tea.. I do hope this turns into a regular idea, as it is just so much better.. I had to go in on Tuesday for bloods, Covid test, and height-and-weight stuff, but that was OK, took less than an hour, and it was so nice to get out and drive my big car - it will probably be 6 weeks before I do that again.
I also think that this weekend’s (July 4th) beach, bar, and brawling idiocies will cause another big flare and more lockdown, so I think my impeccable timing has managed another good strike…
Off to charge up my Kindle, which is full of new books, and pack my bag…
And my garden is just lovely, and Paul will come and cut the grass; Abi will come and do housework, I knew there was a reason for having children <grin>
>>
And just after I came out,
Well, that was interesting. I now have a complete understanding of why people pay for medical treatment.. Large clean single rooms; quiet; windows you can open, see out of, and with trees outside. Very passable and freshly-prepared food and Hot hot drinks (although, as my hearing is pretty good, I did work out that us NHS-paid bods got a much simpler and less-exciting menu.) Lots of nurses - I needed lots of help in the night and didn’t wait more than a minute or so for it to arrive… No middle-of-the-night blood-pressure checks - unless they were worried, they said most people can last 6 hours.. (That’s so hard if you are struggling to sleep)
No parking charges, or mad scrambles to park. More than enough spaces...
Probably the best local surgeon (by all accounts one of the best in the country) working there under the NHS with his entire team. He came in before and after surgery and again this morning, with no trailing retinue of snotty students. He had lots of time to discuss treatment, future possible problems, etc. (I don’t mind teaching, but some of the students are beyond a joke unpleasant and/or condescending. Actually, I approve of teaching hospitals, as did John, but they make for rushed consultations most of the time)
No shortages of PPE, kit, equipment, ancilliary staff. Big clean nonscruffy towels in a nice wet-room bathroom (sadly, I didn’t get as much use out of that as I would have liked)
As compared with 5 nights in a store room (literally) at the Norfolk & Norwich (nurses coming and going all night to find stuff and a bed at a very funny angle), on a ward where the only Disabled-access bathroom was reserved for men. I appreciate that this was an “extra” bed and I needed it, but really!
(I did spend the last two nights at the N&N in a “private” room with ensuite shower etc. but that was because they did actually decide to treat me instead of umming and ahing. The private facilities at the N&N have been taken over by the NHS full-time)
There again, my spine is a permanent mess, I have lost 3cm in height (possibly more, that was before the surgery) and 90% of two discs, and I’m going to have to rejig my business yet again..
>>
I’m home, cat is keeping me company, I’m showered and fed and amazingly sore and so glad to be back in my nice peaceful space... I just need to stop myself going nuts with boredom and doing-too-much-too-soon (always a danger with me) and keep on taking the drugs...
*Turns out that socks, and picking-things-up-from-the-floor, and putting on shoes, is all down to yet more extremely ugly but functional gadgets, issued with instructions BEFORE the op by a charming and helpful and not-condescending Physiotherapist... She started in standard old-lady-speak, and transitioned extremely smoothly to you-know-what-you-are-talking-about technical terms.. I wish more medical bods would do this <sigh>. Then I got a check-up and are-you-managing-well-enough before I came home.
I have a spondylolisthesis at L5/S1, have not yet discovered the grade or whether anterior or posterior.. More stuff to ask!
