So that was that!

Saturday morning came along and I was rather apprehensive, I had experienced weird dreams about dying and surgeons finding nasty things in my neck but eventually I awoke. I had my plan ready, shower, check my bag, check my letter, check my reading material (Tommy Cooper Biography) all ready. Gerry my friend arrived at about 7.20 and had a cup of tea, then we set off with my neck giving me pain as usual over the bumps. I arrived at the Ward and was met and settled into my bed area I would be on second the usual checks were done Blood pressure, MRSA the usual questions were asked both by the nurse and the anesthetist. I was just about to get into my book when I was told to get robed up as I was the first on! What a relief, I managed to get through the robing quite well by tying the threads and then slipping into them over the head, I managed to place my rather fetching white tights on the wrong legs but what the hell they were on and then I was wheeled down to the operating theatre. I saw the surgeon and spent a couple of minutes talking football with the assistant anesthetist a Cambridge United supporter, then I was given a needle in the back of the hand and off to sleep.
Now I think that I don't do anesthetic very well because when I awoke I was I bit confused and rather queasy, so much so that once they had decided to move us from our lovely 4 bed ward to a 10 bed ward I thought I was going to be sick but they shoved something into my hand needle and that was sorted.
Now I realise that the move was necessary from their point of view but I couldn't have been more depressed. The noise and the bustle of the ward was very disconcerting. This wasn't helped by the machine which was working the air in and out of the boots they had placed on me to avoid getting another Blood Clot which was somehow serenely out of sync with anything you could imagine. The staff were still very kindly but they had a lot to do and the fact that mobile phones were allowed was not a positive adventure. Welcome though they are they should be scrutinised so that there are rules of engagement eg silent or vibrate mode only and an acceptance that the recipient of the call has no need to shout out at the top of their voice. Unfortunately the nursing staff had not been given guidelines and as such were at a loss to intervene and ask people to adhere to a non existent rule regime, Shame that, as getting to sleep would have been easier and even to the fact of waking someone up to stop their snoring would have been helpful rather than just agreeing that the noise was unbearable. The upshot however was that the following day (Sunday) I was well enough to go home I had passed water, been on my feet and had good blood pressure results One nurse suggested I stay another night to to make sure because I had experienced a blood clot before but after weighing up the pros and cons I decided to come home. Wife and youngest daughter appeared at 14.30 and by 16.30 I was walking down the street to get into Gerry's (the other one) car to be taken home. What a relief!

It is now Tuesday and I am feeling OK the pain I have is different from the nerve pain I had before, this pain is more like the pain of surgery and in my throat I have difficulty swallowing but that is to be expected as they move the windpipe out he way to get to the disc. I have a hole in my neck I don't know how big as it has a plaster on but the nurse who dressed it said it looked good and the surgeon said he was happy with what he had done so it is all systems go to get better. I am awaiting the district nurse to arrive sometime this week to change the dressing and I will ask her what exercise I can do as I want to get back to fitness again and lose some weight firstly so I can get into my wet suit and secondly so the the board doesn't sink when launch it (sometime in the summer). I am totally unsure of what I can do and can't do and I was given no indication from the medical staff having said that they were superb and I thought they looked after me extremely well in a very professional caring way!
So I am now on the road to recovery and hoping it won't be too long before I am back to peak performance.