Better out than in!

That's what Shrek always says!

On Friday I arrived at the clinic at 07:45 (15 minutes early) and waited around until the admissions office opened. I was first in the queue. I was admitted. But they didn't have any private rooms left. There was therefore somebody already in MY room when I arrived.

They made me take a shower in betadine, even though I had showered before I left, and I got to wear that ridiculous hospital outfit they always force us to wear. I found out just before going up to surgery that I had apparently put it on backwards and had to switch it around. However it certainly made no difference as regards covering any particular part of my body. I took of my earrind and my engagement ring, they let me keep on my wedding ring as I couldn't get it off, and up I went to surgery.

The anesthesiologist was really very kind and he spoke of the hills of the Languedoc-Roussillon as he pricked me with the needle. That's the last bit I remember...

Woke up in the waking up room with a lovely nurse making sure I was OK. I was really quite pleased to see her and almost as pleased to hear my own voice coming out of my throat. I don't remember any of our conversation. I just remember I really enjoyed having a conversation at all!

They brought me down to MY room and the other bed was empty. I thanked my lucky stars. However within a half and hour they brought somebody else in. He had an eye operation and had bandages over both eyes. He was enormous which is always nice as it makes me feel thin.

He was a definite pain for the nurses, and therefore me, throughout the night:

• He undid his bandages by accident at one point


• He kicked through, and broke, the bottom of the bed which was apparently too short


• He knocked over a bottle of water

I slept throughout most of the day and therefore had a bit of difficulty sleeping at night. My neighbour's antics didn't help much. In addition, as always, the (male) nurse would wake me up every hour or two to take my blood pressure and temperature. The anti-coagulant jab in the thigh at about midnight was also well-appreciated...

Saturday I awoke glad that the night was finished. It was a very, very hot evening and my neighbour did not like sleeping with the window open. But when the nurse came in she, kindly, opened the window and the door to the hallway and left them open to create a draft.

After breakfast my anesthesist came to see me and we had a chat while he prescribed pain-killers and anti-inflammatories for the rest of the week. My neighbour checked out at 10:00 and the morning monotony was broken up by the nurse cleaning up the room and making the bed. I proceeded to drench my new sheets with sweat in about half an hour which made them feel like my old sheets all over again...

I rented a television before the operation. Unfortunately the television was hanging from the ceiling about 90 degress left of my bed. After the operation I could not turn my head to the left or look up. I therefore ended up using my television more as a radio and listened to the news (mostly about the ridiculously embarassing post-hurrican disaster situation in America).

In the afternoon Desney and the girls showed up. It was wonderful to have a visit and to hear all about their first day at school. This was the first time ever that I was not at home for the rentrée and I definitely missed it. All news was good news and they stayed for quite a while before heading off to do more school shopping.

Saturday night was much easier as they basically left me alone after my evening medication. No more pressure and temperature readings. Being alone in the room meant no disturbances. As I had slept so much during the day it was not easy to sleep at night. By holding on to the equipment I am supposed to use to pull myself up out of bed I was able to turn and watch TV. This did wonders for my right bicep. But unfortunately I wasn not exactly rewarded with quality programming... I awoke a bit early waiting for breakfast and starting the countdown to checking out.

After breakfast the nurse came and changed my bandages. She says the scar/wound looks fine. However the painful bit was a bit of an allergic reaction to the bandage which I have behind the wound. I was hoping that the new bandage would be much smaller than the original one. Unfortunately it is about the same size and just as restricting.

After all of the paperwork I took a taxi home to find Desney doing chores, as always, Jessica in front of the television, as always, and Alexandra at school.

I sat on MY toilet and washed myself as best possible in MY bathroom. It was a great feeling.

I didn't do much during the day and I didn't turn on my computer at all. To take my mind off of everything I watched a bit of television so Alex and I watched three episodes of M*A*S*H* (2nd season on DVD). We had dinner out on the terrasse, which was wonderful, and Desney was made some easy to chew fish and rice. I watched as the rest of the family drank a wonderful bottle of Chablis Premier Cru (Moreau-Naudet) and I drank my water and took my pills. To end the evening, and remind myself what I left behind, we watched the new (for us) episodes of E.R..

Now it's time to just get through the next couple of days until I can finally take the bandages off on Wednesday morning...

Oh... it's also Jessica's 15th birthday today!