Surgery Pre-Assessment
Yesterday I visited Charring Cross hospital for my surgery pre-assessment.
I arrived early with plenty of time to spare, which was good, because the first challenge was to find the ward I was supposed to be in. This was no simple because there was a big sign saying that anyone heading to ward 6 West admissions should report elsewhere. 6 West was, of course, where I was supposed to go, so I asked. I was told that it didn't apply to me, so off I went, up the lifts to the sixth floor with West in front of me, only to find the same signs telling me to go back down. I lost faith and went back down to reception, who told me that it definitely was there, so I went there, looked lost again only to have someone tell me that it was the other door. It seems that each ward has two doors, one for direct access into the ward beds and another for access into cubicles and waiting rooms. Once I worked that out, it all made way more sense.
The waiting room had lots of people there, but I got taken by a really friendly nurse very quickly to get some basic checks carried out. I was a bit nervous so I kept not quite listening to what they were telling me, which was entirely my fault. She was nice about it and took my weight, height and swabbed me for MRSA, which involved one of those DNA kits you see on things like CSI. She also took basic observations like blood pressure, O2 sats and pulse rate, all of which I recognised and even gave me friendly advise when I told her I was with St John's, which was nice. After that, she gave me a urine sample and warned me to make sure I gave one, otherwise there would be no surgery and left me too it.
Once the sample was out of the way (they are going to be way more difficult afterwards), I went back to the waiting room and sat reading. I figured the day would be long and boring, so I'd made sure to have time and to bring lots of reading material. I mainly sat there to book 4 of the Wheel of Time, which I'd just started. This proved to be a bit of a blessing, because they seemed to be a bit short staffed and being calm and patient helped them and me a lot.
Another nurse then came and took me to a consulting room, where we sat and she went through my medical history. She was also really friendly and really nice as we went through my medical history. She decided that, because my pulse was high, I needed an ECG for my heart, although I tried to tell her it was because I was nervous. It was the usual thing of "I'm insanely healthy, except for the fact I'm trans". She also told me to get blood tests taken and told me to wait to see the nurse specialist before going to all the places I needed to.
It was back to the waiting room before I ended up seeing the nurse specialist. During the time in the waiting room, the second nurse looked very harried but had this awesome "do as I say, I'm in charge, I will look after you" vibe. She was good.
The nurse specialist was calm and collected and took me through the whole surgery procedure. I got a lot more information than I had before, although she went over a lot of the same territory. When she started on the list of Things That Could Go Wrong, as well as the procedure, I was nodding and I started giggling. The nastier each thing got, the funnier it became until she stopped and looked at me and asked me what I thought was funny. I said I didn't know, but she didn't seem happy with that, so I tried to find an explanation and the best I could come up with was that I was really exhilarated to be doing this, but also totally terrified and nervous too, and that these emotions did not really go together.
After that, she gave me some sheets of paper and explained bits. I know I listened hard but I cannot remember much of what she told me. Of the Bad Things that can happen, the one that scares me the most and which I didn't know about was getting a trapped nerve, which would be with me for ever and would seriously impact my life. Meh.
After that, I headed off to get my ECG done, which was a floor down. Now I understood how it all worked, I avoided the big scary door for really ill cardiac cases and headed to the clinic side. There a nice lady put various pads on me and got me measured up, handed me a print-out and let me go.
It was back up a floor to hand it off, which took me a while because they seemed to be doing complicated stuff with all the different nurses, which mainly seemed to centre around them being harried and not having enough people, so I didn't want to make it worse. Then it was downstairs for the blood tests.
I had some blood tests taken a week or so before, when I went to my doctor to ask about them just before the call asking me for surgery came through. So while I was scared I was also a bit blase. Another nice woman stuck the needle in me, this time the big huge one, and I even looked at her doing most of it, which is pretty amazing for me. I think I'm becoming desensitised.
After that, I felt a bit faint, not just because I had had the blood tests, but also I hadn't eaten much beforehand. I was nervous the day before and I was eating too many sweet things, which upset my stomach, which was why, so I settled in the cafe right nearby and had a panini and some tea, while I settled down and just waited for things to pass, again reading my book.
After that, I got home in time for Zumba, so I went. Maybe not the best move, because I am so sore right now, but I want to be as fit as I can be for the operation.
I arrived early with plenty of time to spare, which was good, because the first challenge was to find the ward I was supposed to be in. This was no simple because there was a big sign saying that anyone heading to ward 6 West admissions should report elsewhere. 6 West was, of course, where I was supposed to go, so I asked. I was told that it didn't apply to me, so off I went, up the lifts to the sixth floor with West in front of me, only to find the same signs telling me to go back down. I lost faith and went back down to reception, who told me that it definitely was there, so I went there, looked lost again only to have someone tell me that it was the other door. It seems that each ward has two doors, one for direct access into the ward beds and another for access into cubicles and waiting rooms. Once I worked that out, it all made way more sense.
The waiting room had lots of people there, but I got taken by a really friendly nurse very quickly to get some basic checks carried out. I was a bit nervous so I kept not quite listening to what they were telling me, which was entirely my fault. She was nice about it and took my weight, height and swabbed me for MRSA, which involved one of those DNA kits you see on things like CSI. She also took basic observations like blood pressure, O2 sats and pulse rate, all of which I recognised and even gave me friendly advise when I told her I was with St John's, which was nice. After that, she gave me a urine sample and warned me to make sure I gave one, otherwise there would be no surgery and left me too it.
Once the sample was out of the way (they are going to be way more difficult afterwards), I went back to the waiting room and sat reading. I figured the day would be long and boring, so I'd made sure to have time and to bring lots of reading material. I mainly sat there to book 4 of the Wheel of Time, which I'd just started. This proved to be a bit of a blessing, because they seemed to be a bit short staffed and being calm and patient helped them and me a lot.
Another nurse then came and took me to a consulting room, where we sat and she went through my medical history. She was also really friendly and really nice as we went through my medical history. She decided that, because my pulse was high, I needed an ECG for my heart, although I tried to tell her it was because I was nervous. It was the usual thing of "I'm insanely healthy, except for the fact I'm trans". She also told me to get blood tests taken and told me to wait to see the nurse specialist before going to all the places I needed to.
It was back to the waiting room before I ended up seeing the nurse specialist. During the time in the waiting room, the second nurse looked very harried but had this awesome "do as I say, I'm in charge, I will look after you" vibe. She was good.
The nurse specialist was calm and collected and took me through the whole surgery procedure. I got a lot more information than I had before, although she went over a lot of the same territory. When she started on the list of Things That Could Go Wrong, as well as the procedure, I was nodding and I started giggling. The nastier each thing got, the funnier it became until she stopped and looked at me and asked me what I thought was funny. I said I didn't know, but she didn't seem happy with that, so I tried to find an explanation and the best I could come up with was that I was really exhilarated to be doing this, but also totally terrified and nervous too, and that these emotions did not really go together.
After that, she gave me some sheets of paper and explained bits. I know I listened hard but I cannot remember much of what she told me. Of the Bad Things that can happen, the one that scares me the most and which I didn't know about was getting a trapped nerve, which would be with me for ever and would seriously impact my life. Meh.
After that, I headed off to get my ECG done, which was a floor down. Now I understood how it all worked, I avoided the big scary door for really ill cardiac cases and headed to the clinic side. There a nice lady put various pads on me and got me measured up, handed me a print-out and let me go.
It was back up a floor to hand it off, which took me a while because they seemed to be doing complicated stuff with all the different nurses, which mainly seemed to centre around them being harried and not having enough people, so I didn't want to make it worse. Then it was downstairs for the blood tests.
I had some blood tests taken a week or so before, when I went to my doctor to ask about them just before the call asking me for surgery came through. So while I was scared I was also a bit blase. Another nice woman stuck the needle in me, this time the big huge one, and I even looked at her doing most of it, which is pretty amazing for me. I think I'm becoming desensitised.
After that, I felt a bit faint, not just because I had had the blood tests, but also I hadn't eaten much beforehand. I was nervous the day before and I was eating too many sweet things, which upset my stomach, which was why, so I settled in the cafe right nearby and had a panini and some tea, while I settled down and just waited for things to pass, again reading my book.
After that, I got home in time for Zumba, so I went. Maybe not the best move, because I am so sore right now, but I want to be as fit as I can be for the operation.