My husband has found this hospital stay a totally different experience from when he had his liver transplant.

He has been well looked after….including by a nurse who actually looked after him pre-transplant…and was in a quiet ward with good roomies, but as of yesterday lunchtime, he just wanted to get out of there.

Surgery-Centre

The difference between his hospital stays is that for his transplant, he went into surgery feeling awful, and woke up to find a body working as it should…he felt alive again.

With this surgery which was relatively minor in comparasion, he went in feeling perfectly fine and fit…and has come out feeling like he has been hit by a bus!

And he isn’t liking it…not one little bit!

I have some idea what he feels like because for my three surgeries…which were all removals – wisdom teeth, gall bladder and thyroid…. I went in feeling ok, and woke up feeling somewhat battered.

So I was glad when he rang me this morning to say that once the drainage tube had been removed, he was able to come home!

I headed over to the hospital and just missed out on his next drama…

Pathway

A trainee nurse got the job of pulling out the tube but it somehow got stuck….when they finally got it out, a whole lot of blood came spilling out too!

Their first thought was my husband was bleeding internally, but a doctor checked him out and said must have been a build up so no panic needed!

After about 20mins of applying pressure onto the wound, the bleeding stopped and all was well….I felt sorry for the poor trainee nurse…not the best thing to happen the first time she has to remove a drainage tube!

This all meant he had to stay for a bit longer to ensure it wasn’t going to happen again, so we did a few laps of the surgical centre to fill in the time.

Finally, he got the all clear and it was time to go home!

I did the long walk to the car park, while he was taken down in a wheelchair to meet me…and we were outta there!

He is now safely at home…and is sore, tired, and grumpy!

Hopefully with a combination of more strong painkillers, more sleep and a more comfortable bed, he will regain his good humour and feel much better!

Sleeping

My major problem is going to be getting him to relax and sit still…to relax…which means no exercise, and that is not what he wants to hear….