The dark side of drugs...
Have just had a hideous weekend of illness which we attributed to side effects from one of the three medicine I hasve been instructed to take prior to my surgery on the 12th. I woke up on Saturdaay with the worst headache I have ever experienced, and then proceded to be sick pretty much every hour until bedtime. The dsy was a right-off, mostly spent in bed watching TV and falling asleep! As I was not eating anything, I stopped all meds for the day, and on looking over the side effects (you know that bit of paper in the pill box that nobody ever reads?!) worked out the culprit; ironically the "stomackh settler" you take along with the steroid to prevent stomach ulcers or gastric problems. I felt marginally better on Sunday- at least I was able to eat a little food and take my other meds, although I still felt headachey and lacking in energy
Today I am much better, although getting increasingly frustrated by the dead left arm malarky- takes an age to put your hair up with only one hand! Plus feels more than a little pathetic that at the age of 33, I have to ask my mother to help cut up my dinner!
Consent...
It occurs to me that those of you who are lucky enough to have never needed surgery may not kno how weird the whole consent process is. I have now had to do this several times. During the aftermath of my accident, the resposibility fell to my parents, as I was not capeable of talking let alone understasnding and signing my name, but about a month into my hospital stay I was more concious and approached for consent regarding the plastic surgeryy to my leg. Then three months after I left hospital, I agreed to an operation on the achilles tendons in my right foot. However consenting to brain surgery is a different matter. For starters the list of possible risks is vast and these are explained in detail by the surgeon to make sure you are fully informed. To be honest you have to take an enormous leap of faith and hope in your case you'll be okay. I think it helps to weigh up the alternatives. For me not having surgery has never been an option.
The time is getting closer to the big day now, will be glad in a weeks time when the scary part is over!
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