Went to hospital on Monday to get my RIG feeding tube put in. I was nil by mouth from 9am that morning. They didn't collect me from the ward for theatre till 2.30pm and there was a lot of paperwork first. Wheeled me into theatre at 3pm and it was all over by 4pm. I was well sedated and hardly aware what was going on. Then it was half an hour in recovery before going back to the ward.
Then came the worst bit. Because they have to make a small hole in the stomach you can't eat or drink for 6 hours afterwards. You also have to lie flat, but they do raise you up slightly after 2 hours, and a bit more after 4 hours. I was getting very bored, and then the anaesthetic started to wear off and it started to hurt. I wasn't even allowed a sip of water for some paracetamol, but they soon put up a drip for liquid paracetamol. That did the trick and thankfully I fell asleep till 10pm. I was got out of bed then for a walk around, and then food and drink arrived.
The Dietician came to see me on the ward on Tuesday, and then I was discharged in the late afternoon. It was evening by the time we got home. I was very tired and went straight to bed.
Nice long lie in this morning and decided that it should be a pyjama day. The home care nurse came round this afternoon to check up on me. I'd taken the dressing off the previous night as instructed and attempted to do some cleaning up. She was impressed with my efforts and said it's all healing up nicely. She spent about an hour going through my care plan for the tube, although the list of what needs doing over the next 2 or 3 weeks will all be done by the staff when I'm in hospital for the jawbone reconstruction.
I got confirmation today that I'm being admitted to hospital this Sunday in readiness for my operation on Monday 1st December.
