Alex's Story Part 8

We are now a week on from Alex's operation... Yes, you heard right, it went ahead.  The procedure used to get her in the door was a little different and probably a little out of order but it worked in the end without cancellation.

We had been sent a confirmation letter for the 30th November but it was for day surgery in the day ward so I phoned admissions to query this as it was not a day case and they told me that she was booked in this way to get her in the door, she would be moved from day ward as soon as an in-patient bed became available and her operation would be on 1st December.  So the day before we were due in at 8am (after fasting for 8 hours) I phoned to confirm the operation with admissions as instructed and to query the fasting issue if she was going to be operated on the 1st and was told that she was actually having the operation on the 30th, not the 1st and that she was to fast without question and then she would be moved to in patient ward afterwards but we were to be in at 10am as this would be closer to her operation time.

So we arrived in at 10am, starving and tired only to realise that, unlike in Temple Street where you are given a bed in the day ward while waiting for your operation, in Crumlin, you are shown to a waiting area with normal seats and there we sat for 6 hours before being called at 3:20pm for her operation.  We were both so relieved to be in the operating room though. The delay was apparently related to a bed crisis as there was only 1 bed available and it depended on a little boy being fit to be discharged and thankfully he was given the all clear.  At this stage I was starving and in need of water or a cup of tea as I was also unable to drink in the waiting area so I headed to the canteen which was closed until 5pm (not good) so I wandered around for a while, went back to the waiting area and then went back at 5 to eat the only thing available, battered fish and chips - Awful! I was told that the op would take about 3 hours including recovery time but I wasn't able to go to the ward as the bed wasn't ready but as soon as they gave me the ward name, I went up to see if there was a better place to wait as I didn't want to miss Alex coming back.  I was shown the room she would be in but it wasn't ready so I was shown to an empty space in the 2 bed room across the corridor to wait and was told she would be back within the hour (it was 6:20 at this stage) so I phoned my husband to let him know and he came in with the other 2 girls as he wanted to see her before they headed off to bed for the night.  There was no sign of her at 7:20 and again at 8:30 and noone came to talk to us or let us know why she was so delayed.  She finally arrived at 9pm and for some reason I got a bigger shock at her paleness and coldness this time around.  They told me that she was ready to come back to the room at 7:30 but they didn't have a physical bed to bring her back in (they had removed the bed from her room when they cleared it out for her).  We were beside ourselves with worry during that 1½ hour delay and noone came to explain the reason for it but we were so relieved she was ok that we said nothing.  She was so cold to touch, like stone which left me very anxious about her recovery but all was fine the following morning.  I slept on a plastic fold out mattress on the floor in a sleeping bag but felt very cold during the night.  The room was private but tiny and at this stage Alex still had a drip, catheter and epidural in her back as well as the blood pressure monitor so the nurses were in and out what felt like every half an hour so no sleep for me that night.  At 8:15am they removed the epidural and catheter and within a half hour they removed the freddy in her hand.  She had a little bit of toast at 9am and felt fine but worried that she felt so numb from the hips down and found this very disturbing.  We were being discharged that day (Thursday) so we were waiting for physio to bring her crutches and check how she got on but the nurses soon realised that, even at 3pm, the epidural hadn't worn off enough on her good leg to take her weight with the crutches so they decided to keep her in another night to be sure.  I had explained before the operation to all involved that the pain she experienced the day after the previous operation while we were at home was too much for her to bare and we didn't want that again this year so they set out a pain relief plan and monitored it regularly.  A specialist in the area came and explained all the options including the one she was on and the anaesthetist phoned me regularly to monitor her recovery and pain levels so all in all the care was fantastic.  There were about 4 nurses on as well as 2 helpers and 2 ladies looking after food and other basic needs so there was always someone there to help if required and they were in and out all the time checking on her progress and checking her foot for movement, colour etc.  So we went to sleep on Thursday night, Alex with her leg up but comfy and me with 2 mattresses (copped on that it was more comfy) and an extra blankets and both of us had a better sleep but we were woken at 6am as Alex's medication was being given 6 hourly regardless of time of day but I was so glad that she wasn't experiencing any pain.  She did get very down though and told me that it was my fault that she was in that position and that I made her have the operation which in her opinion, she didn't actually need.  We woke up on Friday morning all ready to head home.  Breakfast was served at 9am but Alex didn't want any as she didn't feel well.  Then at 10am they called her for an xray but she was feeling so bad she asked if they could postpone it but I convinced her that it was better for us to take it as it could delay us a further 5 hours waiting for another slot so she agreed but before we could go, she vomited.  Thankfully I was prepared with a bucket because I've learned that if any of my kids say they feel sick, always have a basin handy.  After she was sick she was able to get into the wheelchair to be brought to the xray depart.  She was drinking water at the time and felt a lot better.  The nurses and I thought maybe it was the medication.  She had her xray and as we walked back to the ward, she said she felt sick again and before we knew it she was vomiting on the floor, just water but very stressful all the same.  The staff couldn't have been nicer, anyone who walked towards us offered to help and the janitor was called and I was sent on my way.  Thankfully, she was old enough to realise that if she didn't move her cast out of the way, being sick may have caused a lot of problems.  We made it back to the room which had been cleaned out for our return and Alex got back into the bed and fell asleep but soon wake up retching so at this stage both the nurses and I realised it was a vomiting bug and not related to the medication.  My husband arrived at 12 to get us ready to leave but we were told that they couldn't discharge her until she was well enough and we ended up there another night.  We watched the toy show that night and slept a bit better.  The following morning, Alex sat up and ate her breakfast feeling a lot stronger but the nurses soon realised that her toes were very swollen so her foot was elevated again and they checked on her every half and hour.  We thought we would have to hang around for another day but thankfully we were sent home.  What an experience! 

We received the appointment dates for the changing of the cast and removal of the cast in the post today so as they are the 19th December and 16th January we are praying it doesn't snow.

So that's it, ordeal hopefully over for this part of the process anyway.  We just have to wait on physio appointments now which I believe are have the worse waiting times for years but at least I have an idea what needs to be done from last year and I can get started from home.