Documents of a chaotic and last minute surgery reschedule.

On March 25, I was ready for my excision surgery with bowel prep completed, all assessments at the hospital completed and all dressed ready for surgery. Unfortunately, an hour before I was due in theatre, it was cancelled. Saying I was upset would be an understatement to say the least. Fast forward to 10 days later, from 3pm April 5, and the chaos begins.

It’s April 5 and I was just starting to pick up after the really shit last minute cancellation of my surgery, where I quite literally had to put my life on hold for. The day before the hospital rang saying that they were still trying to get a date sorted for a reschedule as quickly as possible for myself and the two other patients that were having surgery the same day. At 3pm I received a call from the hospital asking me if I would be able to do the surgery the next day. I’d only ha my lunch an hour before they rang and I had to d 3 days of a low fibre diet for bowel prep and two sachets of laxatives the day before surgery. I mentioned this to the person on the other end of the phone and asked about the bowel prep so they had to put me on hold to run around and ask what to do. They said everything would be sorted and that I needed to get to the one hospital before 6pm so that I could have a blood test and the nurse would go through bowel prep instructions with me. A 40 minute drive just after 3pm on a school day…better to go straight away than when work traffic started if I needed to get there before 6pm (and get back quickly to start bowel prep).

After what felt like the quickest run to the hospital and waiting for a nurse to be free, my brain was then trying to start to process everything that has already happened. That soon wasn’t noticeable when myself and the nurse started to wonder how the bowel prep should be taken because of it being so last minute as last time I had to have one sachet in the morning and the second one two hours after lunch (it was now already after 4pm and I obviously had no sachets yet).

5.13pm 5/4/22. First sachet of the Picolax laxative.

I got home from the hospital just after 5pm. The pre-op nurse had to call up my consultant and ask what I should do for the bowel prep laxatives…a sachet as soon as get home and then the last one before bed. Before bed sounding ridiculous as it takes a few hours for the laxatives to actually kick in, which means I’d be spending the night on the toilet and not get any sleep. Fantastic.

9.55pm 5/4/22. 10 minutes after my second sachet of Picolax.

April 6. Surgery day. I didn’t get any sleep until around 5am, meaning I only had a few hours of sleep before I needed to get up and get everything ready for the hospital. Exhausted probably doesn’t cut it when trying to explain how I was feeling after a very rough night of bowel prep and not much rest. My admission time for the hospital was 1pm. The anaesthetist came to see me first (I hadn’t even been seen by a nurse for my admission checks yet) to talk through the usual formal legal talks and checks, followed by my consultant doing the same and stating that everyone was there so the surgery was definitely happening. I had to stop drinking water by 11am so sitting around waiting when there’s been very little sleep and you can’t drink any water to try and help you feel better is really difficult. Not too long of waiting though.

2.15pm 6/4/22. Awaiting checks to be taken from a nurse.

3.25pm 6/4/22. Still waiting to go down to theatre after finishing the checks and signing papers (again).

At some point after 7pm (maybe, I’m not entirely sure) I woke up in the recovery room. I was taken down to theatre from my room just after 4pm - I never know how long I stay in theatre for or how long I spend in the recovery room. It’s just always a weird feeling waking up after surgery. But I woke up saying that I have a catheter in…I sort of remember crying about it but also being very confused still. It’s just the case of sleeping on and off and hope you start picking up some more from post general anaesthetic grogginess. I was back in my room for the night just after 7.30pm and under constant observations still. On and off dozing began but I did find my catheter bag in my bed after accidentally knocking it and thus knocking the catheter tubing. Dozed whilst I waited for a catheter stand so that it wan’t just sat in the bed with me and not draining properly.

7.42pm 6/4/22. Being aware that I am now back in my room after surgery.

7.43pm 6/4/22. Under constant observation.

There was on and off dozing since coming back from recovery. A big fuck off dressing on my left hand because the anaesthetist couldn’t find a vein after several attempts and then giving up and going with my right hand for the cannula. I remembered them being called out to recovery before they started drugging me up because someone woke up and started screaming (not what you want to hear when you’re about to go into theatre). It’s weird how you feel after general anaesthetic and everything being hazy…I was more with it after 10pm and waiting for some food and drink. The consultant came to see me as I was still dozing…something about the endometriosis being removed and the next steps will be discussed at my clinic appointment in two months, like more hormone treatment. The nurse had to mention I had very little sleep so I really was not with it to take in new information.

10.29pm 6/4/22. More awake and aware of the ridiculous dressing after several failed cannulas before swapping hands.

After 11pm and having food and drink, I finally had a catheter stand sorted. I did have a massive wobble not long before eating where I felt like I was going to pass out and suddenly sweated through the duvet covering me. My observations were fine right before this wobble occurred. I had to go to the bathroom so that I could put back in some of my piercings. I definitely felt a bit more with it after that. Although I did sit on the (put down) toilet seat to do so, forgetting my backside was caked in the run down iodine from my abdomen - a not so white looking toilet seat after that. I thought I would check the situation out whilst I was in the bathroom. The dressings were put over my incisions straight away by the team this time - the last surgery I out them on myself so I could wear clothes better add more padding under the seatbelt for the journey home. Still had the “surgery pants” on this time as well - they were holding the biggest pad known to woman. Just in case…but it’s just been soaking up some iodine instead and holding the catheter in a more comfortable position for me I guess. I was told the catheter would be removed in the morning. At this time though, the more with it I was feeling, the more the pain started to really kick in.

11.18pm 6/4/22. Start of checking the situation in the bathroom light with the catheter bag now on a stand.

11.19pm 6/4/22. Checking the coverings of the surgery incision points.

April 7. Very little sleep through the night. I woke up, after about an hour and a half of some sleep, to horrendous pain. Oral morphine was had at about 1.30am. After that point it was just dozing on and off through the night. My catheter was finally removed just before 8am and the staff changeover. I did have to have some more morphine at around 11am. The first two times passing during after having the catheter removed I had to use a bed pan so that they could check enough of my bladder was being emptied after the catheter. I passed all of the required checks once I did that. At that point it was just waiting to be discharged (and get home to my own bed). The pain from the surgery, plus the additional pain from the gas they inflated my abdomen with mad me bloated and feel very tender. However, the gas decided to shoot straight up to my right side of my chest and my right shoulder - making it very fucking painful and very difficult for me to breathe.

1.45pm 7/4/22. Getting ready for discharge and checking incision points.

1.47pm 7/4/22. After trying to remove as much as he remaining iodine residue as possible before putting my clothes back on for discharge.

2pm. Discharge time. I was being sent home with a weeks worth of injections to help prevent blood clots as well as an extra pair of surgical stockings. In my discharge bag there was also my discharge papers, notes and multiple pain relief prescription medication for me. I was happy to be going back home to my own bed and have some more sleep.

At this point it just meant that I could start to process everything that had just happened within that 47 hour period. There was very little time to actually take in what was going on from the moment I got the phone call. The positive being that I had very little time to overthink it and have my usual amount of panic. But there was just too much to process, too many new pieces of information and just not enough time to have actual discussions about it all. I’m still processing it all now, just over 2 weeks after the surgery. It’s taken some time to go through it all really. I’m still pretty overwhelmed by it all.

A 47 HOUR PERIOD.