So here I am 2 days post op. Feeling a lot better than I thought I would. Here's how it went.
Arrived at the hospital at around 7:15 am, was taken into the admission room where I had to sign some paperwork. I was then collected by a member of staff who took me up to my room for the day. The room was very pleasant, it had a private bathroom and a flat screen tv on the wall. There was also space for two guests which was good as my girlfriend insisted to come along.
A nurse then came to my room asked me questions about allergies, blood pressure ect. The anesthetic guy then came in and just asked me the same questions. About 10 mins later around 8:30am dr kardis came in and went through what was going to happen during the day, took a few photos of my horrendous chest and drew me up. ((IMPORTANT....This was when he told me about his new procedure, which involves stitching the skin around the chest area to the existing muscle/fat, to almost tie them together. This is not so much a new procedure but an added new method, it's only there to prevent hematoma, as there's then no room for blood to build up. He explained that this happened in 7% of patients and as he operates on so many a year he would like to get this down to 0. I was told I was around the 15th patient this has been carried out on and so far is 100% successful)).
Anyway kardis then told me I was expected to be picked up for surgery around 9:15 - 9:30. I remember being led on the bed about to be put to sleep and looking at the clock in the room and it was 9:15. Next thing I know it's about 11:20 and I'm waking up. Feeling a little dry mouthed and almost light headed. I was also very cold , like shivering, but they put the heated blanket type thing on me. I was taken back up to room after around 10mins off being awake.
The nurse basically just told me to chill now for the next four hours and that I'd have to wear the cool pack to reduce swelling for the next 4 hours. After an hour or so of being back in my room I opted to have my lunch (which was delicious) as the nurse said the sooner you eat the sooner she could remove my cannula, which at this time was actually more painful than my chest.
Before I knew it, it was 3:40pm and I was ready to go. One of the kardis nurses came in, gave me my compression vests, some strong pain killers and some laxatives. She said enjoy your evening and we'll see you at 11:30 in the morning to remove your stitches. The day literally couldn't of gone better. Although I do admit the pain got a lot worse once the cool pack had been removed, trying to sleep wasn't the best. Found myself waking up roughly every 2hours for a drink and wanting to move.
The following morning after surgery I went back to the kardis clinic to have my stitches removed, I was booked in for 11:30 but arrived early at just gone 10. Thankfully the nurse seen me straight away. Removing the stitches was a somewhat weird feeling, as you chest is numb and tender it just feels more weird that painful. As soon as they had been removed I felt a lot less pain and more free, like I could move around more. I had the chance to have a good look at my chest. And I know it's still very early days, but I couldn't even explain how happy I was. I did take a couple of photos which I'll post soon. Just hope everything goes smooth from here on out.
And that's basically me. I'm sat at home watching the six nations, in not much pain at all. Just restricted as to how much I can stretch/move my arms. Only taken pain killers up until the stitches were removed.
Please feel free to ask me any questions, I'm happy to answer. I wouldn't be sat here today 2 days post op without this forum.
Topic: Surgery with karidis done. New technique. With photos. Feb 2018 (Read 5999 times)
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