Cornflakes, Cannulas & Controlled Chaos

Monday, 28th July - Operation Day

Today is operation day, finally!

I don’t need to be at the hospital until 12:30 so I’ve got the morning to keep busy. 

My original plan was to have a bit of a lie in, but I am not allowed to eat after 7am, so I've set my alarm for 6:40am giving me time to get a big bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes in my belly.

I’m allowed to drink until 11am so that’s not too bad. 

There were a few outstanding jobs around the house that I wanted to get done before I was incapacitated. So I had a load of washing on the line by 8am, all the bins emptied, kitchen cleaned, plants watered and another load of washing in the machine. 

I wrote my studio newsletter ready to be sent on Tuesday, managed to get a zoom call in with my friend Sam and responded to a hundred messages wishing me luck and sending love. 

I wasn’t allowed to wear any products on my skin before going into surgery so I left my shower as late as possible. Then I watched the last remaining 20 minutes of an episode of Dexter Resurrected that I hadn’t managed to finish the day before. 

There was a moment when I was in the shower that I had a bit of a wobble and thought ‘should I have written letters to my loved ones in case anything went wrong’, then shook it off and carried on.

At 10:00am I refilled my Stanley cup and said to myself I had to make sure I drunk all of it before 11. At 10:55am I found I still had about half a bottle full so downed it all in one.

I was ready to be picked up as planned at 11:40 by my mum. I felt fully ready.

In my bag I had my new super soft dressing gown, slippers, kindle, my reading glasses, portable charger, bottle of cold water (for after surgery - I’m really fussy with my water), a protein bar for afterwards, my post-surgery bra, and an envelope from one of my clients, Sheena that said - for your hospital bag. I also had a small bag of toiletries just in case I had to stay in after surgery.

Frustratingly on her way to mine, mum discovered the road from the neighbouring village that mum has to drive through was closed, and she had to take a diversion through a very narrow and winding country road. She didn’t get to me until 11:55am by which time I was starting to panic slightly. 

We were due to take the same (closed) road to the hospital so had to go through the diversion route, which took so much longer due to big trucks that were far too large for the road having followed the diversion too. 

We pulled up at the hospital at 12:29pm - those of you that know me well will understand how stressed I was feeling at this point - I hate being late at the best of times and this was possibly one of the most important appointments I’d had all year. I did my best to keep my feelings in check as it wasn’t mum’s fault the road was closed and I didn’t want to stress her out too.

The surgery was being held in the Endoscopy and Day Surgery Centre at The Lister Hospital in Stevenage. My admissions letter just said to go to reception.

Fortunately there was a couple of vacant drop off/pick up spaces right outside that had a waiting time of 20 minutes so mum left the car there and came in with me. 

We stood at the reception at exactly 12:30 and rang the bell as no one was at the desk. There were voices in the back but it took another minute before someone came round to check us in. 

She took my name and looked a little concerned and asked what I was here for, I feeling quite nervous said Mastectomy. She visually relaxed and said - “you want Day Surgery - upstairs”. 

We got the lift upstairs by now it was 12:33 and I was cross I was now officially late. I was also BUSTING for a wee!

The lady at the desk told us to take a seat, I asked if I could use the toilet first. Mum then asked if I’d be required to do a urine sample before the surgery (I had read that I would in the pre-op notes). So she went off to find out. Meanwhile I was dancing around the waiting area doing my best pelvic floor work to keep my bladder from emptying itself on the floor. 

She took about 5 minutes to come back with a sample bottle, which I practically snatched out of her hand and rushed to the loo. I reckon I could have filled up a bucket at this point.

Honestly I think I could have won an award for how pale my sample was - I was that well hydrated!

Once I was able to concentrate on something other than my bladder I asked the receptionist if she knew where I was on the list for the surgery that afternoon. 

She said I was the only one this afternoon. I think mum had found out that nothing would be happening until at least 1:30pm as they had all the pre-op checks to do first. 

We then had about another 5 minute wait before I was invited to go through to the pre/post-op area. Mum had to leave at this point and I was shown to a bay with a bed and comfy pink arm chair.

Shortly after this a nurse came and took my temperature, blood pressure, measured me for the pressure socks, and took my urine sample to check I wasn’t pregnant. She went through the form I completed in my pre-op assessment and asked me to get changed into my gown and pressure socks.

Not long after this the anaesthetist came by to talk through the process with me. His name was Martin and he was extremely lovely, really friendly and totally put me at ease. 

He explained that the surgery would be about 3 hours and with a traditional anaesthetic method this would normally mean the same amount of time for the ‘hangover’ after surgery. Instead he was going to be using a special method that is a combination of gas and IV so that when the operation is over and they turn it off I will come round in about 6 minutes!

He said I would be kept warm and hydrated throughout. 

He also said that once he put the cannula in my hand I wouldn’t remember anything else - I was almost disappointed as I quite like that feeling of counting backwards from 10 when you go under.

After he left my surgeon Mr Cathcart came round and went over again the procedure that he would be doing. He drew on me and wrote on my arms - one said Mast & LNB the other said implant - this was to insure they did the right things to the right sides - there was also an arrow drawn at the centre of my collar bone pointing down - I’m not quite sure the purpose of this one as surely my breasts were quite clearly below my head??

He told me that he had found the measurements of my expander implant that had been used on my reconstructed side last time round, and he had got a couple of sizes for my new reconstruction so he could decide when necessary what size was most appropriate. 

He asked if I had any preference of going bigger or smaller if there was an option and after a moment I said bigger - it felt like a decision I maybe should have spent more time over but there wasn’t any time to ponder as he was looking at me expectantly waiting for my answer - we’ll have to wait until the swelling goes down after the op to see how good the symmetry is. 

I asked him if he was going to get some lunch before my surgery as it was clear he’d just finished two surgeries in the morning. He said he would be having a quick snack. 

He told me we’d be ready to go in about 45 minutes which would be about 1:45pm.

I then overheard him talking to the woman in the bay next to me that had just come out of surgery and then the woman next to her. 

I was so confused at this point as both women had seemingly arrived in the post-op area at the same time and obviously wouldn’t have had their surgery at the same time, but they were both his patients.

I tried not to eavesdrop too much but after the surgeon left I did hear the woman next to me being offered a cheese sandwich and an apple juice! By this point I was quite hungry as I hadn’t eaten since 7am. 

I was still quite hydrated though and needed to go to the toilet two more times before going into surgery.

Just before I went through, one of the staff members came and asked me to take my post op bra with me into theatre, so I stuck it in the pocket of my dressing gown. 

I walked to theatre, it was on the same floor as the pre-op area and the nurse/assistant pushed my bed round. 

Once in the room where they do the anaesthetic they told me to hop onto the bed and they helped me get my arms out of my gown. 

Martin the Anaesthetist was there and put the cannula in the back of my left hand. I was watching the clock as he did it, it was 14:11.

I was expecting to fall straight to sleep. I even said to him - I’m still awake! He said he’s not that good. 

I don’t remember him doing anything else after that so I don’t know how he put me to sleep as there was nothing attached to my cannula but whatever it was it worked!