Operation day.... 7th May 2010

I had a good nights sleep. I was surprised, often your nerves get the better of you the night before and op and I was also in a room with six other chaps that wasn't particularly dark or quiet. Perhaps I'm getting a little too used to this hospital life.
Again I didn't feel too nervous about the operation. It was only a small one where I was only expected to be knocked out for around and hour and a half. "A walk in the park compared to the last one" Sue had told me. I had a shower and got myself ready.
The porter turned up at 09:30, quite a bit earlier than expected so I had to ring Tracey to come up and see me off as there were now strict visiting hours in force around the hospital to reduce infection.
I walked to theatre! Tracey was with me most of the way and we stopped at the entrance to say cheerio, hug and kiss. "I wont be long" I said. I then turned and made my way with the porter into the theatre pre op rooms. A deep breath.....here we go again then and focus....
In pre op I hopped onto the bed and made myself comfortable. The room was the same one as where I had my central line changed before, the bed in the middle, stainless steel tables down each side of the room with cupboards on the wall stuffed with surgical gadgets and equipment. Infront of me were two double doors into the operating theatre, one was open and I could see the operating table with the huge pivoting light above it.The door was quickly closed.
The anaesthetist started to talk me through what was happening, they removed my glasses and put them to one side. The nice thing about it is they always work quickly at this point and don't hang around keeping you waiting. I was soon fast asleep.
The next thing I knew I was in recovery, that was quick! again my memories of this are pretty sketchy but I was far more aware than any of the two other ops I'd had before. Tracey was on the ward to see me back and I was pretty sleepy for a while. I soon perked up though and remember feeling really quite well, far better that ever before. My worries about suffering from hallucinations were unfounded and I had no problem with anything like that.
As the day wore on I dipped in and out of sleep but was increasingly well. Surprisingly I was allowed onto a light diet, so I ate some soup for tea that evening (big mistake).