Anniversary

I don’t normally blog at this time of the year, but today is significant for me and I wanted to mark it in some way.

A year ago today I had a surgery to replace my aortic valve. This exact time last year (3:07pm) I would have been anaesthetised and being operated on by the surgeon and his team. (I’m glad I have no memory of the actual surgery!)

The surgery itself went okay, although I came out of it with a condition called complete heart block, which meant that along with my new mechanical aortic valve, I ended up having to have a pacemaker implanted about a week after the surgery. The cardiologist told me to expect being in the intensive care unit for a day after surgery, with about a week’s stay in hospital and six weeks to recover. I ended up being in the ICU for three days, two weeks in hospital and nine weeks of sick leave. Another unexpected discovery was that I can’t tolerate opioid painkillers – initially they gave me drugs like tramadol and fentanyl for the pain, which made me so nauseated that I was happy to just have plain paracetamol. (And stuck with paracetamol throughout.)

The hospital stay itself wasn’t all that bad. I guess I was happy to be somewhere where trained professionals were looking after me; I was really in no fit state to go anywhere or do much of anything. I needed lots of tests and scans and x-rays, and when you’re in hospital you get wheeled directly to where the scanners are, and they come to your bedside to take blood for tests. It is tiring to have your temperature and pulse rate taken every four hours but I liked chatting to some of the nurses. (Nurses are wonderful.)

Not a life experience I would recommend, but I’m thankful to have had the surgery – I’m recovering well with an amazing scar. I now have to take a range of medications daily and for the rest of my life. I’m grateful for my GP, who picked up the issue with my aortic valve in the first place. Getting through such major surgery has made me reflect on life, the universe, and everything, and I’m making some major changes as a result – of which more later.