Among the things I learned

...while in hospital ....

Firstly – it is important to listen very carefully to your consultant when he tells you about the operation. I queried with my excellent surgeon why I was feeling so bad a week after surgery. ‘You told me I’d feel for a few days like I’d been hit by a bus! But it’s now eight days since the op. Shouldn’t I be beginning to feel better ?’
‘No, no’ no,’ he cried. ‘I said “You’ll feel like you’ve been hit by a bus for a few days”. In other words the hitting by the bus will be an ongoing event for days not a one off event! The impact will go on for many days yet!!!’

Secondly, they make omelettes by machine nowadays – using egg powder. The results were mind-boggling and in complete contrast to the excellent soups and sandwiches on the menu. In fact, the omelettes could have easily been used as mini-cushions for relieving bed-sores.

Thirdly, still on the subject of food, one’s sense of taste recovers gradually after the op so that good food tastes better but bad food states worse.

All human life is on the post-op ward – if not this week then certainly next week.

Post-operation it is difficult to concentrate for more than a page or two on a book.

Some easy crossword answers become ridiculously hard when you’re poorly.

Nurses work incredibly hard and put great effort into helping people feel comfortable and dignified in a situation where neither is the norm.

Prior to the op I thought words like sawing, re-cementing, pipes, drains, valves, ands drips were connected to the work needed on the conservatory!

All mousse and ice cream is strawberry-flavoured.

God is a Staff Nurse (but I already knew that).

.... and afterwards ...

If the op dooesn't kill you the medication will. I've been quite poorly again this last week and went to see the doctor yesterday. It seems I'm reacting to one or more of the tablets. Since there are ten different tablets that's an awful lot of combinations to try to sort it out. Ah well, some of them only have to be taken for 12 months.