6th - 9th September

I have included 3 days here as each day was much the same. Wake up, take medication, lay on bed doing crosswords, listening to music through my headphones, eat 3 times a day and get wheel chaired to the toilet numerous times! My partner and my son took turns in coming to see me which was nice to break up the day but it was only for 1 hour a day maximum. My last day in Bournemouth and my brother came to see me. I hadn't seen him for over 6 months due to Covid Lockdown and it was only the week before my heart attack I was trying to arrange to visit him and his family. Imagine my surprise when the nurse poked her head behind my curtain in the morning and said someone had come to see me. Visiting was only in the afternoons, and she said it was my brother! "My brother"! I said, and yes there he was poking his head around. What a lovely surprise.

Previous to this visit, he was saying that when I came round from the Op, I would be called Davina and have 36GG bust. Made me laugh and he always does. 

9th September, this is the day I joined the Army many years ago. You never forget that 1st day and it has always stuck in my head. I was a fit young lad back then, I am still fit, just have a dodgy artery that needs fixing!

Today (9th September) was the day I was moved to Southampton General Hospital in the back of an ambulance. They gave me about 3 hours notice, so plenty of time to pack up my things. My partner had been in the day before with a box of chocolates and some thank you cards so i could thank them for looking after me. Bournemouth Hospital nursing staff were really nice, just like all the other hospitals really. So i wrote out a card and handed the chocolates over and the card when I was wheeled out of the ward.

40mins later, I was in Southampton......things were about to change!

 I am taken to a ward on the 2nd floor and into a room that has 6 men including myself and in close proximity to everyone else. Its not a particularly pleasant experience as the 2 men in front of me isn't quite with it. They have to have a carer constantly watching them 24 hours a day. Why? I have no idea but one doesn't speak particularly well, perhaps mentally incapable to a point and the other........ is a bit odd. Especially when a nurse is doing a procedure on the other man and this guy who is directly in front of me is peeping around his curtain!! Both gentleman are older than me, but not by much and that's definitely not an excuse.

I also had another blood test by someone called Zoe. Zoe was very nice, very pleasant and talkative which is nice when someone is sticking a needle in your arm to reassure you. Zoe was hard of hearing apparently, and she had a golden labrador on a lead as her hearing dog. I have never heard of such a thing. I was surprised to see a dog on the ward, but a pleasant surprise. Even more surprising was that Zoe was clearly a man, dressed as a woman. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and each to their own, but as the blood test was being done (took an inordinate amount of time, a good 30mins to have a blood test and put a cannula in) I was thinking at what stage was Zoe at in her transformation? Perhaps there was no transformation at all, but was happy living her life as a woman. Bless her, she was nice. But I got a little concerned that she came back to see me 3 times for some reason and eye contact was direct. I think I must have made a friend as I was just being myself and being nice to her. Heres a photo of her handywork. Good job I thought.

There was no food for me when I arrived as it was after tea time, and because of the travelling, I missed tea time at Bournemouth Hospital. I asked the nurse about 8pm whether I could get any food and she said she would phone the kitchens and find out. About 9.30pm, I  ended up with a sandwich from somewhere. I don't think it was from the kitchen, and I didn't care, I was just hungry but at least I had something before turning in for the night. I was of course hooked up to a cardio monitor, so many leads hanging off me.

I was also told that tomorrow afternoon I would be having my operation and nil by mouth from 6am tomorrow. Deep joy I thought, apprehension about the operation started to creep in.

I didn't sleep much that night due to the two guys opposite me and due to the noises of everyone elses cardio monitor. Surprising just how much they alarm and depending on whats wrong, the alarm will NOT stop unless intervention from a nurse to push a button to reset it. It gets very irritating, very very very quickly!!!!

Boy was I tired.......9 days with very little sleep across Poole, Bournemouth and now Southampton Hospital. 

10th September - OP Day

So the day has finally arrived. I had already spoken to my son about what happens if I don't survive and a tearful verbal explanation to him about the assets I had and how they were to be split up (I didn't tell him everything about my assets, they would discover those upon my death)

So just to be clear, from day 1 I have had a very positive mental attitude about this whole situation. You will discover the power of that later on my recovery. So although I was very confident I would get through the operation, there's always going to be a tiny bit of you that wonders "what if" and I think that is perfectly normal for anyone to have that thought.

 So after not much sleep, here I was laid on my bed about 5am thinking of the operation, thinking of the noises I was hearing around the ward and down the corridor. Taking sips of water even before 6am isn't a bad thing and I wasn't particularly thirsty anyway, I was just sleep deprived! So during the morning, I think I had reduced medication, for instance less blood thinners because of the op, Nurse came round and told me I would have a pre-med before the operation (I didn't get a choice) about an hour before the operation. Consultant came later in the morning to discuss the operation and what he would be doing (think it might have been the registrar to be honest) and he told me that I had been very lucky. Am guessing he was saying that I had been lucky to survive the heart attack as the artery was critically narrow, but he didn't say that in particular, he was generalising I think for me to be in this position 9 days later after a heart attack having a bypass. I am really not sure what he meant by the comment, but all the time leading up to this point, I had said the same thing over and over again in my head anyway. I am lucky to be here and very grateful for an operation that would fix my problem and give me many years of life ahead of me. How very lucky we all are to have an NHS and the people that chose this path as their career. Amazing people.

 As time is moving on, people have munched on their breakfast (I wasn't jealous at all) but every hour or so I was taking tiny sips of water, just to wet the lips and ease my dry throat. It felt like a long morning waiting for my operation, I think it was delayed by an hour or two as lunchtime came and still I was on the ward. Perhaps there was a complication in surgery for the person before me? I didn't want to think about that. 

Anyway, not long after lunchtime, the nurse came in, put a cannula into my arm and gave me some pre-med. Not sure what it was but she said I would soon start feeling drowsy and relaxed. Ok I thought, and waited for the swimmingly lovely feeling to envelope me in its medication..... 30mins later, I remember saying to the nurse, I don't feel any different, its having no effect. She said something, I can't remember what it was now...... but I must have closed my eyes and that's the very last thing i remember for 2 days!!!

11th or 12th September

I have one very vague memory of saying "I'm going to be sick" and started to retch and that was all i remember!

13th September

This is the weird thing. When I was able to think straight, my memory was getting my mobile phone and looking at the date on the front. It said Sunday....... my operation was on Thursday...... what happened on those other days????? I was really surprised by this. But to be honest, I wasn't too bothered, the main thing was that I was still alive. I had got through the surgery and apart from feeling sore and painful on my chest, I felt ok, but I was alive.

It was only last week that I discovered that they kept me sedated to ensure my blood pressure was stable (never had a problem before with my blood pressure) and when I did come round sometime on the friday, I was telling all the staff that I loved them!! Thats typical me!

I was also winding the nursing staff up apparently. I was on the phone to my partner and my son and saying there are no nursing staff here, they have abandoned me, but then the nurse that was with me said into the phone, "I am putting jam on his toast" I have no recollection of anything on friday at all. No idea of any conversations, no idea if I was even alive, and certainly no idea I had a sense of humour one day after a major operation. Like I said, the only memory I have is on sunday looking at my phone and wondering where the days had gone! It was bizarre but I did have to smile to myself, thinking I had made it through.

So once I had come round a bit more during the day, I then discovered I was reconnected to the cardio monitor (kinda makes sense) and I also had 2 holes in my stomach. One for a drain that connected to the outer wall of my heart and in the plastic bottle was a small amount of red liquid. It wasn't blood per se, but a red coloured watered down liquid. (I only found out when they removed it that it was connected to my heart)!! the other drain was because of a gastric bubble inside my chest or stomach area that appeared on an X-ray after the surgery. A lot of air I believe but here is a quote from Google which I have just looked up! 

The gastric bubble is a radiolucent rounded area generally nestled under the left hemidiaphragm representing gas in the fundus of the stomach. On a lateral radiograph, the gastric bubble is usually located between the abdominal wall and spine. It can be seen on chest or abdominal plain films

So a lot of gas !!

They also inserted a tube down my right nostril to help drain this gas as it wasn't shifting. It wasn't painful gas, it was just there but it needed to come out. The nostril drain was awful. Nurse told me to swallow as she inserted it and it was not only uncomfortable but all the time I had it in, it was irritating my throat to the point that it gave me a sore throat. I hated it. It was stuck up my nose and in my stomach for 24 hours, actually could have been longer to be honest, I cannot remember, but I don't ever want it again because after a few hours, they used a syringe to drain out the gas and liquid (brown watery stuff) that gurgled as it was being sucked up. It was not very nice. So anyone else going for a bypass, this is potentially something to look out for and enjoy!!! Of course, if you're sensible, you won't allow yourself to get into this position in the first place. Look after your heart, there is a knock on effect!

  Today I discovered the guy in the bed next to me was Ex Royal Navy. I didn't speak to him directly, but could hear his conversations with nurses etc. Turns out he was younger than me, and looking at him, I would say about 5 years younger, possibly more. He seemed nice enough but I think he was struggling a lot more than me. My recovery was going well I thought. Am pretty sure he had a bypass as well as he was wearing a jacket. The jacket is called a Post Thorax support Vest. Its a small jacket which I presume holds your chest together after surgery. Not sure why I didn't have one, but in case you ever find yourself going for this type of surgery, then you will be making a fashion statement amongst your friends as you will need to wear it after you leave hospital !! How lucky you are.

Later in the day, A nurse said that tomorrow you will need to start getting out of bed and going for a walk. I told her, lets do it now and lets get moving. I was very keen to recover quickly and get out of hospital. So the nurse got a portable cardio monitor and a stand for my 2 drains and off we went down the corridor!! This walk was slow and measured. I was weak in the legs and I was still a bit light headed. Went about 100 yards down the corridor, turned around and back we went. My first walk along the road to recovery.