We have a date!

Well, after  many months of waiting I have a date for my operation.

A few days ago my surgeon’s secretary rang and spoke to Suzanne (I was out), asking if I could come in on 18th March. She said no, and reminded them that we had already corresponded and agreed that in view of the lack of urgency and my pre-existing arrangements, 1st or 8th April would suit my personal agenda much better. No problem, we will let you know…

Well, they have done and on Friday 8th April I will be going in to Leeds General Infirmary for day surgery with a 2 or 3 day overnight recovery stay. Whoopee, the long wait is nearly over!

I have to admit to paradoxical feelings. One the one hand delight that the wait is nearly over and that I face an apparently complex yet straightforward procedure; on the other the perhaps inevitable nervousness consequential on facing a general anaesthetic and having a camera, drill/saw and vacuum cleaner shoved up my nose to extricate this adenoma. All the same, it’s going to be another talking point and at least in principle it’s not life-threatening like heart surgery could be.

Somewhat astonishingly the date, and the next few days that I will spend in hospital, does not clash with ANY pre-existing appointments. HOWEVER, I am scheduled to travel to Belgium (by land) starting on the Friday after discharge. I will have to discuss this with the surgeon.

The interesting thing is that before then I will probably have to go through a third pre-operative assessment as the second one will have time-expired. I wonder if the system can synchronise these events? If I do have to it’s no real problem, just a hassle of scheduling half a day when it might actually take 30 mins like last time!

Hey ho, off to hospital we go.

ADDENDUM

On detailed reading of the letter something seems to be missing. The letter refers to it being a ‘day case’ ward, with no mention of whether or not I will be staying in hospital to recover. All my previous discussions have indicated a 2 or 3 days stay.

I wonder if this is yet another example of not connecting the dots?