Days following the Operation

The first day I awoke I was feeling upbeat and positive; the right leg had feeling and sensation and can move, the left leg has feeling but I can’t lift it off the bed.  The doctors and their entourage came round on a morning and I could push away with the left leg but that was all.  They are confident that it will return and I am hoping the feeling is due to the fact I have the epidural in and it is stopping things from working.  An average day on the HDU ward is busy, the nurses are lovely but due to the fact I am covered in tubes and wires and can’t get out of bed, I am privy to a bed bath.  Oh the joy!  You lie there completely unable to do anything, washed and dried by the nurses and carers before having the bed changed.  The slide sheet on my bed is used to move me up the bed, and I have to be turned by the nurses to slide a sheet under me.  Doesn’t sound too bad but when you are moved onto your side with a tube sticking out of your chest, the pain is immense.  This is something that has to be done every day and I slowly get used to the pain and feeling of it.  I really don’t like the chest drain, I can see it filling on the side of my bed and hope it isn’t too long before they remove it. The staff on the ward are fascinated by it as they don’t usually have them on the ward; they are usually removed in theatre so I feel like I am pretty important!

Despite the discomfort of the bed bath, it’s good to feel clean and get a clean hospital gown on.  If I thought having children would compromise my dignity then having a bed bath supersedes that.  You are at the mercy of the nurses, if you get a gentle one then you are lucky, however, there were occasions when a nurse could be a little too rough and you had to remind them you were missing a rib and that area was sensitive! I had to lie on the bed, sheets soaking where i had been lathered in water and soap, no area untouched, literally, and having to rely on two nurses to wash and move you because you are incapable, there is no such thing as dignity therafter.

I am relieved that the bed is electric and I can lift myself up and down as I want, the leg also raises so I can move the position of my legs if they are starting to ache from the constant same position.  The nights that I slept reasonably well were the worst for the morning as my whole body would wake up stiff and painful, and the only way to move would be by the use of the bed.  This became invaluable throughout my time in hospital.

Days are long on the ward, it really is hard work doing nothing and I spend my time trying to read my huge pile of magazines and books but the attention span is zero and it is hard work.  I sleep a lot during the day which is detrimental to the night when 2.30am arrives I find I am always wide awake!

Hospital food is pretty good and the steroids they have put me on have given me an immense appetite.  We also get a regular coffee which is put in a beaker not dissimilar to what a child would use with a spout or a straw!  I did laugh to begin with but with limited movement it was pretty useful!  We used to have to fill out the food request form the day before and you could guarantee that I would have no clue what I had ordered, therefore making every day a surprise! (sometimes good!)

After a couple of days, the leg still wasn’t working but physio came round to get me out of bed. Not an easy task at all with a chest drain and the feeling of dizziness.  The right leg has the strength and the left leg is still useless. The effects of having the epidural removed are slowly wearing off but still the left leg doesn’t want to move.  This is quite a worry now as it feels like a dead weight.  I have to rely on the nurses to help me move on the bed and on a night, they have to settle me down and “arrange” my leg with a specially fitted boot on my foot so that I don’t get “foot drop”.  Still, I think things have to improve, it’s early days.

I have had a scan to see how the spinal cord is looking now so will await the results, I am sure everything will be fine and I will be on my way home soon.

Mark visits me every evening after work.  He goes to work for half past seven and then gets to Sheffield for a 6pm visit, sometimes he gets here a little later but he gets here.  I miss him so much; the day is long without seeing anyone so evening time is wonderful when I know he will be here.

My friends Yvonne and Don have also been to visit; they have a week off and called in to see me, worryingly Don brought in his camera knowing how I HATE being photographed, and managed to get one or two pictures of me looking my best – not!  Looking back now, I hardly recognise the person in the bed lying there with tubes and wires, seems a lifetime ago.

It’s good to see familiar faces though as I miss home life and normality.  I am sure it will be back to normal in no time once I start physio and get moving.




After Op One