It's all a bit of a blur.....post-op 26 June 2009

The next thing I recall is waking up in the recovery room. I don't think I was alone. It seemed quite bright and warm. It felt like I was crying but I'm not entirely sure and have no recollection of any particular reason for me crying. It all seemed to be going smoothly, no major panicks, all calm, all okay.

The next part I am unsure exactly what order these things occured. Bear in mind I'd just had a GA, was in France, I am not a native French speaker. For all I know they could actually have been speaking English or my befuddled brain was enough "together" to understand French!!

I recall them trying to roll me onto my left side, presumably to insert the post op epidural for pain relief. At this point there was some agitation as it did not seem to go as planned and there seemed to be some fannying around trying to intert the needle into my back. I don't really know what was going on but I've always experienced problems whenever anyone has tried to insert anything into my spine or in the general region. I am very glad I was obviously not quite "all there"!! Anyway, they seemed to succeed and I was rigged up to an epidural "thingy" which administed pain relief. It administered a set dose but also there was a natty button to press for me to top it up if necessary. "Gold star" pain relief they said - ha ha (more on this later).

It was likely at this point I actually asked (again I assume in French) what time it was - 12:10 I was told.

Then the surgeon came up to me, muttered that it had all gone well and then he stroked the side of my face said he'd see me later. It transpired that was the only bit of "bedside manner" this man is capable of. He is good, he knows it, he's the boss and everyone, I mean everyone, deferred to him.

I was at some point put back into my own bed and given the intruction to hit the pain relief button and then wheeled back to my room, to be reunited with my lovely French voisine.

Back in the room I was rigged up to a blood oxygen monitor and an automatic blood pressure monitor that took measurements about every 30 minutes. Very annoying when you are trying to sleep!

Hubby arrived at some point in the afternoon - not sure when and I suspect I was't quite with it as I don't recall much.