A minor panic yesterday, as the huge floater that had appeared in my left eye on Friday, accompanied by a little flashing light, had failed to disappear on its own account, and I was forced to admit that I had to get it checked out properly. I made the basic mistake of checking it all out on the interwebs first, which meant that I had to sit ( Read more... )

Well, I’m finally home, only a week or so later than I thought I would be. I won’t go into a great deal of detail here, as I’m a bit tired, but basically, everything went fine (after an initial cock-up about operation timings when I was first admitted), apart from the wound, which was healing slower than expected, so that they suspected an ( Read more... )

Joint School is an excellent idea - they get patients in before their hip or knee replacements, and explain the whole procedure and aftermath, and everyone fills in a form about their home circumstances and gets to discuss it with a nurse. I had nothing like this when I went in to get my hip done, and would have greatly appreciated it then. ( Read more... )

Spent most of this afternoon getting checked out for the knee operation. This is a sort of MOT, with a battery of tests designed to ensure that I don't drop dead under the anaesthetic. Quite useful in a way, and reassuring, as I don't seem to have anything much wrong with me apart from the stupid arthritis.

The rest of the day was spent ( ( Read more... )

Yesterday, a note arrived from the hospital telling me that I had another appointment next week. This is a bit worrying, since last week I was told that I was signed off and didn't need to come back. I do hope nothing weird showed up on that last x-ray ( Read more... )

Hallo, folks. I'm finally back, and feeling pretty good. I actually got out of hospital yesterday afternoon, but I've been sleeping most of today, delighted to be back in ( Read more... )

Well, here I go, folks. I've spent the morning running around like a wet hen, in the same state I tend to get into when I am going on holiday, chucking random stuff into my bag to cover every conceivable eventuality. Do I really need all those books? Yes, of course I do, and the tapestry kit and walkman radio ( Read more... )

Before I say anything else, can I just thank everyone for their good wishes about this operation - I really appreciate it! This morning was my pre-admission check at the hospital, and once more I had myself X-rayed, sampled and ECGd. All seemed to go pretty well, although the X-ray required me to flex my hip in a way that seems to have caused ( Read more... )

The hospital just called - I'm to go in for pre-clerking this Wednesday and for the actual operation on the 11th. Hooray!

Now I can devote myself to full-time worrying about the operation...

My hospital appointment was today - I'd clearly been shoehorned in at the last minute, and waited almost an hour to actually see anyone. By this time, I was really upset, as well as angry, so it was just as well I'd written a letter for the consultant. I saw two people from his team, and got a certain amount of concern, but no actual apology, so ( Read more... )