Waiting

So I on Tuesday I went for pre-admission and to see the surgeon. My parents came along with me and we turned up for 12pm. The nurses are very friendly and really make you feel at ease. The first thing they did was take a blood test - I'm assuming this was to check for any infections and such. This is fairly straight forward...unless you have a fear of needles like the person after me did! But it really is harmless. What no-one ever told me was that to check for MRSA, you get to long sticks made of soft material shoved up your nose. When they showed me them and said they needed a swab from me, I automatically opened my mouth thinking that's where they would be poking me... After that they take your blood pressure, check your weight and height and that's the end of the tests.

On to see the surgeon? I thought so, but no. We had to wait four hours for him because he was delayed in theatre. Because of the wait the nurses decided to talk to us more. They asked a few questions about my medical history and then went on to describe the days following my operation. It was the first time I actually felt light-headed about it. I didn't know if it was because I hadn't eaten for so long, or if it was starting to get to me. After the talk they decided to show us around the rooms. First stop was ITU where we would be after surgery. It seemed very noisy and there were tons of machines around the place; but the patients seemed to be sleeping through it all. Not an ideal place to be but we were told it was only a short term stop after surgery. Once we recovered enough (a day or two later), we would be moved to a standard room. I tried to check if there was a TV but couldn't get a good look! I think I was expecting something a lot more comfertable, but I can't really complain - a bed's a bed right?

After this was done, a lot more waiting...and finally the surgeon arrived. He was a little eccentric in my view, throwing some jokes around and laughing a lot which I guess did put me at ease. The first question I asked was about the ON-X valve and he had to hold back a laugh - I assume people have asked him before about this. In his view he was unprepared to use the valve until concrete evidence was out regarding its performance. He knew I did my Masters in Research Methods and went on to explain his reasonings with stats and experimental design. What he said did make sense in that a lot more patients and time would be needed for any generalisable findings. I still had some sort of hope for using the ON-X valve but in the end I settled for the St. Jude. ON-X are used in the U.K., but I guess it depends on your surgeon. In my point of view, Warfarin wouldn't be that big of a deal to take for the rest of your life. And the risks posed by it aren't as bad as the rumours out there.

We then threw some questions at him. For those of you out there who wanted some more information on Warfarin, I would highly recommend you doing your own research. What he did say to me however, was things like playing football shouldn't be a problem, or day-to-day knocks on the head. Even eating greens (which can interact with Warfarin) shouldn't be that big of a problem. He did a good job of keeping me calm. Even when I went to sign the consent form acknowledging the risk involved - 5% mortality. I did hesitate at that figure but not having an operation is simply not an option.

It certainly is a strange thing talking to someone you know will soon have there hands inside of your body!