5 July 2022
Soon after being admitted I was told that I would be given a Poo Poo Machine. The nurse used hand signals to indicate fluids shooting out of her bottom, saying "poo come out quick" I was a bit worried and expected her to wheel in a device with a hose to connect to my anus and it suck out the poo from me.
Turn out that "machine" is my interpretation of "medicine" in muffled Thai/English said through a mask!!! Medicine, not MACHINE! This is something I struggled with, I am not good with accents, and adding a mask into the mix made for some interesting interpretations and confusion. Thank God Fran was there to decipher for me.
I was then given a foul tasting liquid laxative to drink in 30 minutes and a bowl of soup broth to drink. Not long after getting through that I became close friends with the toilet and spent the next few hours basically cleaning out what was in my bowels.
As part of a pre-surgery questionnaire I was asked about any issues with anaesthetic and if I had been in an operating theatre before. I told the nurse that I had no past issues and had been in surgery for the repair of an aneurysm in 1993 and follow up coiling in 2016. She was concerned about this and alerted the surgeon. I had detailed my medical history as part of my application but the surgeon and a neurology doctor wanted to see me in the morning before my GRS.
I was quite upset at the idea that this may cause an issue with my surgery and made contact with Paula at BYH and emailed Waikato Hospital for a copy of my discharge summary and details of the procedures I had been through. This information arrived via email overnight.
I was up at 6am, showered, shaved (I had laser hair removal around my genitals but the nurses needed to check it was hair free) and the meeting with the doctors at 8am went well. I was able to provide the details from my last blood tests as I get blood drawn and tested regularly, went through a multi-page questionnaire with the neuro doctor and they concluded that the GRS was no risk to my wellbeing and health, thank god!
Soon after that I was prepped and an IV put in and waited until 10am for the trip to the operating theatre.
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| Prepped - taken just before surgery |
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