Did a list in a different hospital last Friday.
My surgeon had an excess of patients left over from the last lockdown, and our usual hospital just didn’t have the capacity. We had a very nice day. It’s a smaller institution, more like a cottage hospital, but the theatre suite is lovely and new. Each operating room is huge, with enormous picture windows looking out across a green valley to the posh sun-drenched suburb on the other side. It was nice to be able to look out at the view during the list, fantastic for the mental wellbeing of the staff. I’m hoping the windows are made of one way glass, though.
The staff bent over backwards to be helpful and accommodating. I was sensible enough to wear a pair of low heeled mules that I could keep on the whole day with shoe covers on. The surgeon didn’t have quite the same degree of foresight, and his shiny business shoes would not have been good to operate in. Luckily there were a spare pair of Vans in the men’s changing room that he was assured were free for him to use. All well and good until around 4 pm, when one of the male nurses in another theatre wanted to go home and couldn’t find his sneakers. They were tracked down to our surgeons feet. The nurse got his shoes back, sadly a little the worse for wear (there’s a reason some surgeons operate in gumboots), and the surgeon had to finish the list in his socks.
There were two earth shaking moments for me in the day. The first was the 5.9 earthquake that struck in the afternoon, in the middle of the PM’s press conference as it happens. A conservative commentator said it was a sign of God’s displeasure at the government’s COVID plans. How mad are people?? The other was when my GP rang me up to say the pathology results had come back from my recent smear test which showed abnormal cells, and I needed to be referred off to a gynaecologist, was there any particular one I wanted to see? It was the middle of the list, I had a patient on the table that I was looking after and had to pay attention to. There was no opportunity to pop out for a breather and to get myself together. A quick whispered conversation with the GP, and then some time spent texting various friends for advice, whilst still doing my job and not allowing myself to get distracted. I don’t think anyone guessed there was anything unusual going on with me.
So, events are now in train. I seem to remember when I started this blog hoping I hadn’t cursed myself into ending up with a “My Cancer Journey” type story. So dull! So unoriginal! Hoping this will just be a small blip in my ongoing tale. However, it’s out of my hands. We shall see.