Can't type for very long. I have been given my sleeping pill already. Yesterday I had my operation for my hickman line. I was really scared about this one, as this was probably was first "official" serious proceedure. It actually involved going to theatre and all that stuff. Ok so heres what happened. I was told I couldn't be put to sleep for the op because of some clots that had developed in my lungs. This meant that I had to only have local anasthetic and as little sedation as possible. So, I was wheeled down to theatre. Filled out some forms, asked the questions you would normally ask etc. Then I was wheeled into the operating room. The nurses were running around preparing and the surgeon was gowning up. I noticed he put on this clear perspex window thing over his face. I assumed this was to stop blood squirting in his face during the surgery so I totally expected to be bleeding heavily during the op. This freaked me out even more. I didn't want to open my eyes during the op and see my artery had been slashed open by accident and blood was pumping everywhere. Next, I was given blankets and the site was isolated from the rest of my body. They put iodine on (a orange disinfectant dye) where they were going to cut and covered me up in pre-warmed towels. Then they put the local anasthetic in. Instead of selective injecting in in a few spots the surgeon used a big needle and when he pushed it into my skin, just skewed it around on a angle and moved it all over the place. It hurt like freaking crazy.
Then he said "can you feel this?"
I said "YES" (I couldn't actaully feel it. I just said yes to make sure the spot was properly numbed)
He said "Give him a small amount of sedation"
The night before I hadn't slept, in the hope that, if I did receive sedation, it would make me fall asleep. It didn't.
So I got given some more local and then they put a veil over my face. They then begun the op. As far as I understand they cut small line into my upper pectorial muscle and pushed a tube into one of my big veins coming from my heart. They keep movin my shoulder and checking the position of the tube which scared me a bit. Xrays were taken mid-op blah blah. I went to the recovery room and had to lie in my own blood from the op until I could go back to the ward half an hour later. Overall, the op was a success but easily the most frightening thing in my entire life thats ever happened to me. Just during the operation knowing they are cutting into you and seeing your insides while I am still conscious and alert really freaks me out. Felt like I was in E.R. or something tbh, thats how tense it was. I will continue this post tomorrow with more information on the hickman line itself and stuff (can't remember if I explained what it is)