Things I learned

I've just come home six days after radical nephrectomy and wanted to record some of the things I learned in the process.

1. Everybody's anatomy can have variations. I unexpectedly woke up on ICU. Both the surgeon and the anaesthetist were fairly quick to tell me that things hadn't gone according to plan and it was for my safety but happened because my body was different to the standard design,. I was very happy with their cautious attitude and although I ended-up being in hospital for a good bit longer than expected, the pace of developments was always referenced to my well-being. Nothing that leads to any on-going concerns.
2. Hospitals really do have some very sick people. Stating the obvious perhaps but I did feel a bid of a fraud seeing the other patients in ICU. Even down on the ward the other people were clearly much more unwell than I was. Sometimes this was distressing.
3. The staff of the hosiptal were almost universally fantastic and went above and beyond every time to provide good patient care.
4. There was one member of staff, a doctor, who I was unhappy with because of poor infection control. I told him straightaway and he took it badly. Tellingly he came back to apologise about an hour later. Accepting when you are wrong and learning from it is a special gift.
5. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I felt so quickly and how little pain there was. Everybody's experience can vary but these are big positives for me.
6. Hospitals are very busy and noisy places. I guess it's different if you are very unwell but I found the lack of sleep and frequent observations to be very tiring. Very glad to get out and go home for dome real rest.
7. Bowel movement didn't happen until this morning, day six. A long wait and a big relief.

Every experience will vary but overall I found it to be a much more positive experience than I expected. Now for the recovery. I'll try to reflect further as the process unfolds.