Recovery on the ward - 27th and 28th July

I came to on the ward and I was being asked would you like a tuna sandwich and a cup of tea.   I woffed them down and it was soo nice.   

I was in a small ward of 4 beds, with the nursing desk next to my bed.   I had an oxygen tube on my nose and and bottle containing my blood laying on the bed.   

I recall asking to go to the toilet and a bed pan being provided.  I was asked to roll to my side so the bed pan could go under my bum when I rolled back.   I'd put many bed pans under many bottoms as a carer, but this was a first to be on the receiving end.  During one bed pan event, it was positioned correctly and I was quietly told the lovely lady "Ive set myself".   She didn't bat an eyelid.  Instead she swiftly changed my bed sheet without me having to move off the bed.   This is something I too have done in the past and I have to say, I wasn't anywhere near as efficient as the lady doing it for me that day.     

I dozed on and off all night, waking every hour for the first few hours for observations which consisted of temperature being taken and blood pressure., and also after that for a wee.  I managed to walk to the toilet before the night was out which was good as it made me feel I was ok because I could carry out that task! 

 The drain 

I was told I would have a drain in when I came out of surgery.   This was because I'd had lymph nodes removed.  

I actually imagined a huge tube coming out of titty but it wasn't like that.  There was a tube but it was inside my chest wall and had been stitched in place so it wouldn't come out.  It felt a tad uncomfortable and many times I forgot it was there and moved and then felt it.  I was obcessed about it coming out as well.   Alas it didn't.  I mentioned it to the nurse and she "oh it won't come out it's this big (approx 8 cm !!!  I imagined it hanging by a thread .... there was thread involved as the surgeons has stitched it in place but it would have to have a massive tug to come out accidentally.  

Through the night I unhooked the bottle from the bed, carried it to the toilet and sat it on the chair next to me on the loo.  The bottle didn't fill by much, about 50mls whilst I was in hospital.   Even when I got home it didn't go over 50mls after 3 days.  

Weirdly, when I was sat looking at the rube one day, I saw a little clot and it was the same shape as the lump of cancer I'd seen on the ultrasound screen. 

The drain did it's own thing - the green button on it (shown below) is doing the work (apparently).  If that pops up then it's no longer working.    

One of the nurses gave me a cable tie so I could keep it in one place on the bed which was very helpful.   
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I had a dressing from my armpit, covering the side of Titty.   A cling filmed nipple looking as though it was peering out of a window!.   The dressing was blue and there was dried blood under armpit section. 

Snacks 

Because of my blood sugar and hypo history, I planned ahead and took relevant snacks in with me including a protein shake for Wednesday morning, nuts, banana and something sweet.   These were munched throughout the night, slowly which was a good idea as breakfast was cardboard masquerading as toast! 

I sent videos to people at 2 am in the morning .... and I recorded the snoring of my fellow patients, little realising that I too was probably snoring (my nephews informed me of this two weeks later when we were staying in a caravan).   I sent messages on Whatspp that didn't make a lot of sense.  Every hour that I visited the loo I was awake again for a while ... it actually felt like i'd not slept at all but I don't think this was the case.  

Love Titty and Tracey