(Tell Me Why) I Don't Like Wednesdays..

Had my heart bypass operation on the morning of Wednesday 14 June. Woke up that evening in ICU covered in iodine and heavily sedated and intubated (tube down throat – connected to breathing machine). My boys were there – holding my hand.

Almost immediately I demanded pen & paper so that I could communicate with the nurses, asking them to take the tube out. After several pleas (I was desperate – I needed to cough – and you can’t when you’re intubated) – the tube was pulled out and I was breathing on my own! Much relief from my boys (and me and my cough!)

That was a long night. I couldn’t sleep. Although dosed up to the max with morphine, I was too afraid to go back to sleep. Having woken up from heart surgery – I wanted to stay awake. And I did! Chatted to and pestered the nurses all night long.

I paid for it the next morning (Thursday). I was in terrible pain – partly because I hadn’t rested enough, and was awake when I should have been asleep. But I was still on the mend and so was transferred to a high dependency ward where people who were far more ill than me kept me awake all the next night. And they did - their bodily functions and consequent need for the nurses were relentless throughout the night and in the early hours of Friday morning.

Friday morning – today I am unhooked from all the tubes and monitors and – with the escort of a nurse – walk the 20 yards to the bathroom and back. I am now considered to be a mobile patient and am transferred back to the main ward. It’s more cheerful there – people have either just been admitted (awaiting their surgery) or are recovering and about to go home. This just makes me feel so much better. I finally get what resembles a night's sleep since the op.

Saturday morning – I have shown that I can eat, sleep, walk and get in and out of bed on my own – and all body parts seem to be working – so I am allowed home. Fantastic!

It is another two weeks before I can do much more than get up out of bed, make cups of tea, turn on the telly, eat a sandwich and go back to bed at the end of the day. The pain is much worse than I imagined it would be. Thank goodness for Big Pharma and its candy supplies.

Almost four weeks on now. In addition to the above, I can turn on my computer and sit at it for about an hour, two at most – discomfort is too great to do much more. I can walk to the paper shop and back. I can cook a simple meal. That’s about it - physically.

But Brain is working and I am doing little bits of work each day - even though I'm officially off sick, and will be for quite some time. There's only so many re-runs of old soap operas that a girl can watch - especially now that Wimbledon & the World Cup are over.

My next milestone - in the next couple of weeks or so - will be to walk to the high street shops and back home again. I haven't managed that yet.