The Last Few Days Left
Finishing University has definitely been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The sun was shining and I spent my last day with some amazing people walking around the one place that made me choose the University in the first place. The ocean has a way of making me feel so at home and at peace no matter what daunting things you're about to face. However knowing that upon completion I would have to go straight back home and into hospital was something I'd been putting to the back of my mind since what felt like forever.
Friday 7th June
Only a day after driving back from Plymouth (my home for the last 3 years) I found myself in a car and heading up to London for my Pre-Op assessment. After a 90 minute journey we arrived, parked the car and began our walk to the building. Upon arrival I was informed to take a seat and wait until called. Arriving early to appointments can be considered a good thing, but when you're a massive stress head like myself you just find yourself all flustered. Also having a fear of hospitals and medical procedures definitely causes the situation to be more uncomfortable for me than it would be for others because I overthink everything!
Pre-Op tests and my medical history.
My assessment consisted of a number of tests to ensure that everything was safe for me to undergo the operation the following week. The nurse started off by taking swabs around the tip of my nose and also around my crotch and then moved onto taking my blood. Injections and needles are not something I enjoy due to past experiences with fainting, however this time I thought I would be confident enough to have it done sitting up. That was until she got an elastic tie out and began to wrap it round my arm to stop the blood flow. It was at that moment I realised very quickly that I was going to have to lie down in order to stop myself from fainting. She struggled to find a vein so made me clench my fist, making my skin tense which caused the needle to hurt when going in. Overall it wasn't a pleasant experience. The tests weren't even done at that point she still had to take my blood pressure; temperature; height and weight measurements.
After the tests I was then asked a long extensive number of questions about myself by another nurse. All medical questions that depicted what kind of medication I would be given to ensure I wouldn't have any reactions during the procedure and afterwards. I'm glad my parents were there at that point because my head just seemed to turn to complete gloop. I answered the majority of questions but then started to forget family history, allergies things that were quite crucial for them to know.
A talk with a Physiotherapist
Another 10 minutes passed after leaving the room and we were then called in to meet a physiotherapist. My mum told me beforehand that my physio would be my best and worst friend. Oh was she right. Again I sat down and we went through my history about my hip dysplasia etc. etc. You may have realised that whenever you have an operation you find yourself repeating your story and condition to EVERYONE! We then proceeded to go through a physical examination followed by her roughly explaining what would happen on the day which weirdly made me feel a bit more comfortable. I guess it was because I knew I had to face the music at some point and her brutal honesty was kind of what I needed. She concluded by teaching me how to walk with crutches, which is surprisingly hard when you don't have and injury because you just find yourself cheating.
My last few days walking
The next few days I found myself going on lots of walks, anywhere and everywhere. I'm fortunate enough to live in a village surrounded by beautiful meadows filled with nature and blossoming poppy fields. I naturally gravitated around those areas in order to do as much walking as possible. In my mind as extreme as my thoughts were I had to expect the best but assume the worst in order to prepare myself for any situation. That's the thing with surgery we live in a world where it's becoming so advanced that we automatically assume everything is going to go well. We forget that sometimes that's not the case, so I really wanted to make sure I was making the most of walking so that if it went wrong at least I knew I didn't waste those last few days doing nothing. Also I wasn't going to be able to walk properly for the next 3 months so I wanted to enjoy that whilst I could.
