The Final Step Towards Surgery

I had a bit of a weird..and embarrassing experience at my surgery pre-admission appointment at the Manukau Super Clinic on Thursday. According to the letter I received in the mail about it, the purpose of the appointment was so that the doctor could check my health to see if I was fit enough for surgery and would be answering any questions and addressing any concerns I had.

Well it was a lot different when I got there. After rushing to finish my stats assignment in the morning my dad took me into the city to hand it in (after having to run all the way to wherever my mum was to use her car when he discovered our other car wasn't working!) before going to the Super Clinic. The clinics inside were arranged in 'modules'. We went to Module 9, which was for plastic surgery patients or something like that.

After waiting a while it was my turn. After the nurses recorded my height, weight and blood pressure, I went in to see the doctor, who had none of my patient records and knew nothing of my situation! So he just listened to my heart beat with his stethoscope before determining my health was fine and sending me off to get a blood sample taken just in case I would require a blood transfusion during surgery.

The nursing co-ordinator of the 'module' wanted to see us before we left for the blood tests at another 'module' to give me a letter and provide a few more details of the surgery. We sat down with her to talk a little about what to do before and after surgery. It was then when I started to feel a little light-headed and my sight began to get dimmer! I was about to faint!!!! ...and for no apparent reason! Either it was because I was so hungry or I was worried about surgery. The only time I've fainted and the times I've come close to fainting have had something to do with blood...

(such as the time I fainted for the first time at Rangeview after cutting myself at metalwork. My friend took me to the office. I had no idea I was about to faint and so as the principal approached me I just fell over! The other time I came close to fainting was last year in a lab when we were learning how to determine our blood type. I screwed up the first blood sample that got taken out of my thumb and so got another one taken. That's when I was almost about to faint!).

Fortunately I nearly fainted in a medical centre with health professionals around though. The nurse gave me a drink of water while the doctor who was walking by came in and wiped my forehead with a tissue. I've never experienced it before but I was sweating profusely! When I finally came round I started feeling a little chilly!

I went over to get my blood test and just before the lady was about to jab me I told her I nearly fainted just a little while ago and so she let me sit in her plush reclining chair! She jabbed me in the area near the elbow while I was looking away. It didn't really feel too bad, just a little ticklish, but it took almost five minutes for the blood to come out! So I was just sitting there, having a conversation with the phlebotomist, waiting for the blood to come!

When it was all over and done with, my dad and I made our way back home. After feeling chilly I was now sooo hot in the car!! My dad and I went to McDonalds and we had a milkshake which was nice!

Now there's only a week to go before surgery! Apparently it'll start at 7am, I'll be in theatre for seven hours, and so will come out at about 5pm. The nurse, who reminded me of a school teacher of mine Mrs Russell, told me to keep thinking of the positive outcomes of surgery after asking her about possible complications and things that could go wrong! So I'm going to be trying to keep

*Thinking of happy thoughts thinking of happy thoughts*