I was admitted to ward 11 at Ninewells on Sunday 22nd March.I was given my own room ,with a view of some lovely cherry blossoms,my favourite tree-"must be an omen", I thought!
The day was taken up with lots of questions from medical staff and nursing staff. My surgeon came in to see me to explain the procedure again and to get me to sign the consent form.He fully explained all the risks,including the risk of heart attack or dying on the table, but I felt that , as it was a rather expensive procedure , he wouldn't be doing it if he thought I might die-silly , I know!
I then had the most horrendous bowel prep I have ever tasted! It consisted of lots of bottles of Lucozade (which I hate),Dioralyte sachets ,( which I hate ), and Kleen Prep (which I hate) . A couple of enemas were thrown in for good measure , so , all in all, it was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday-NOT!
Having said that , I managed to get a good sleep and was wakened at 6am to get ready for theatre . It is strange , but true , that I never felt nervous . I think this is because I had met the surgeon and anaesthetist and had total faith in them.I was wheeled to theatre in my bed and met up with the theatre nurses and anaesthetist. He said he would put an epidural in my back which would help with pain relief after the operation . He had seven attempts and eventually got it in- apparently nurses' backs are notorious for getting epidurals in due to the wear and tear and calcification -at least , that's what he told me!
The next thing I remember is waking up in ICU , twenty four hours after I had gone to theatre! I still had the ET tube down my throat , which I found quite uncomfortable , as I couldn't speak . There were loads of machines bleeping away , doing what they were supposed to , and a couple of nurses and an anaesthetist looking at me . I felt no fear at all- I actually felt very safe as all these people were here looking after me . I couldn't move , so couldn't check my wounds to see what had been done , but I felt no pain , so wasn't really bothered . In the afternoon , the anaesthetist decided that the ET tube could be removed ,which was nice - at least I could talk ! I had an N/G tube in place - not my favourite thing , and was on 100% humidified oxygen - another of my least favourite things ! It's not that they are painful , just a nuisance!
I also had a central line in the right hand side of my neck , which had five lumens in it for various uses, an arterial line in my arm , my PCA via epidural , and a urinary catheter in place. I checked under the covers and saw this lovely operation scar from my chest down to my bladder , and an ileostomy on my left side . There were also four drains in place .
I was told that the surgery actually lasted nearly twelve hours , so my poor family must have been out of their minds with worry .
My time in ICU was short , as I was making good progress , so I was moved to HDU the following day. This was a bit busier than ICU and I had to share my nurse with another patient - oh , the humanity!
My surgeon came and spoke to me and said that the operation had gone very well and all the cancer was removed - I could have hugged him , if I wasn't connected to all these tubes , etc. I had to concentrate on getting better now , but my condition was classed as "critical" because of the major surgery. I must admit , that shook me up a bit , but I am not one for feeling sorry for myself , so I just went with the flow !
I was on IV antibiotics , anti emetics , steroids , ( because I had chemo during surgery ) , antacids , but,as they all went via my central line , it didn't really bother me.

All the staff were tremendous-very professional and knowledgeable , and I felt very safe at all times . I didn't really sleep very well , but the Morphine via the PCA gave me some weird visual hallucinations- it was probably exacerbated by the steroids - it was like watching people moving fast frame -not pleasant at all !
About eleven days after my operation , my drains were all doing what they were supposed to , apart from one which had started to drain some bile . The surgeon was a bit concerned by this , so i had to go for a CT scan to check what was going on.That was a bit like a pantomime - I was wheeled along in my bed , monitors bleeping , IV infusions ,catheter and the rest . I was wondering how they were going to get me from the bed to the scanning couch , but I said I could stand up and transfer myself - they were a bit surprised , but I managed it with a lot of help!
It went ok , and I was soon back in HDU . The result showed a small pocket of fluid gathering around my small bowel . The surgeon said that it could be a suture that had come loose , or a fistula in the bowel . He said he would observe how things went over the weekend , but that I might need to go back for more surgery .
The weekend passed and there was more bile in the drainage bottle , so the surgeon came in and said I would need to go to theatre - I asked when that would be as my husband was travelling up from Glasgow to visit - he said I would need need to go to theatre in ten minutes ! I managed to phone Bill before he left , and told him what was happening - more worry for the family ( sorry !).
Ten minutes later I was in theatre going through the same rigmarole to get the epidural in again -the previous one had been removed a couple of days before , as I was doing so well.
Next thing I knew , I was in the recovery area . I had only been in theatre for three hours this time , so was soon taken back to the ward . The surgeon came and told me that there was fistula formation in my small bowel , so he had to perform a resection and anastomosis . I had more drains in , but felt fine , as usual.
This kind of slowed down my progress for a few days , but these things happen . I gradually got better every day , with tubes getting removed as things improved .
I will continue the saga in my next post x