I've Got Some Nerve

I know what you’re thinking, it’s been two days since his hospital appointment and he still hasn’t told us how he got on. I have been busy you know, looking for a new jacket on eBay and ordering cuddly versions of Krampus and the Grinch for my Christmas display.

So here goes. For the third time in three weeks I ventured to the big hospital to see someone I hadn’t seen since last year, the surgeon who operated me. If you’ve been reading the stuff I put on here you’d know that the cardiology team suggested getting in touch with the thoracic team because I was still in a great deal of pain from my diaphragm repair and chest drain operations last year.

I was more than surprised to get an appointment with them just a few days after I contacted them, but then again, given what I went through last year perhaps it shouldn’t be such a surprise.

So I Made It To 53

Those that know my family's history will also know how the number 53 is a pretty big and dramatic number for some, especially considering those we lost when they reached that age.

I really thought that I'd be joining them this time last year as I lay in hospital stitched up, taped up, tubes in various parts of my body, with so many needles having been jabbed into me and feeling pain the likes of which I never want to feel again.

The truth is I'm still nowhere near a hundred percent, but getting so many birthday wishes means a lot to me, and I will gladly take that support with me when I'm back in hospital for further treatment soon.

You Meet All Sorts on a Hospital Ward

It’s been about a year since the last of my hospital stays and my operation, and because of this I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane, recalling some of the unpleasant things I had to go through.

My thoughts have been wandering to the time I spent on the Acute Medical Unit ward at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital when I first went back in. The various AMUs are a little step-up from the Accident and Emergency department. Patients with a wide array of ailments were kept there before they were transferred to specialist units.

For instance, the bed to the left of me in the ward I was in featured an array of characters, a young lad with a kidney complaint, an old boy with a broken leg who ripped down one of my curtains because he felt cold, and another man who ended up urinating in the corridor just outside the door.