Southampton Hospital
Open Heart Surgery for replacement valve.
The view from my ward
The last couple of days have been pretty awful, as it appears I had two infections.
The first one was in my lungs and has now gone, however the second one is in my bloods and its source is proving difficult to pin point.
Later this morning I'm hoping for some answers and needless to say I'm praying the affected area isn't the new heart valve.
I also have type 2 diabetes, and my numbers are through the roof. So, the diabetic team are working hard to find the right concoction of drugs to bring the numbers down from 14 - 20, to my pre-op numbers of 6 - 9.
My ribs absolutely kill and I am so pleased I have a good supply of morphine to help ease the pain. I'm not sure how it happened by it feels like I have pulled my right arm out of its socket.
My taste buds are well messed up and other than a bowl of unsweetened Rice Krispies, everything else tastes of salt, including bananas, apples, peach juice etc.
For 5 days I suffered from hallucinations ranging from ants walking along the end of my bed, a 2 metre Harlequin Ladybird (can you imagine), people's faces swapping ie I would be looking at one person, move my eyes onto a second person, and then look back to the first person who now has number two's face!!
I was looking across the room to the chap opposite me, I closed my eyes for a split second and when I opened them again, he had a pink tree coming out of his head, with pink ferns as a backdrop.
I could go on as there were many more with flies, snowflakes, soot, and a small tv which appeared at the end of the bed for a few seconds.
So, there we have it. My last 9 days (post-op), with hopefully only a few more to go before I can return home. Test results pending!!
Apart from having a body which is being pulled from pillar to post, my heart is behaving really well.
It's just the rest of my body which needs to catch up.
Martin
Post-op images at your discretion here.
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