Surgery
April 2008 - Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

I had to have open heart surgery to correct a defect I had since birth (Tricuspid Valve replacement for those that care). Now I know what you're thinking: 'Major surgery? This must be painful'. Well it was. I vaguely remember coming round in the post-op ward and not knowing what the fuck was going on except that my family were at my bedside looking worried and I was in PAIN (and that was with the morphine).

The morning after surgery wasn't too bad; I was absolutely fine as long as I didn't move around...just a dull ache where the sternum was healing. However, the worse pain was when the drain was removed. A tube, about a quarter inch thick and maybe 1.5m long (although the entire length wasn't inside me) was taped into place about 3 inches above my belly-button. It is used in the first few hours after surgery to remove any pus or whatever may leak from around the site of the operation, ie, my heart. Inside my chest. My sore, sliced-up,severely bandaged chest. To have a nurse slowly pull it out of me was the worst pain I ever felt - a really weird sensation to feel something moving through my body like that.

When the end finally emerged I was white as a sheet and didn't speak for about 40 minutes, until I could get over the bizarre levels of pain and inconvenience I was experiencing.

Apologies for crap narrative style but I'm hungover
(ConanTroutman thought we would free the vulture, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 14:58, 1 reply)

I had a tube as well when my appendix decided to leave me.

It feels like someone has punched you really hard in the stomach when they remove that damned tube, but left their fist there. Weird, painful but oddly fascinating.
(Roddimus_Prime Should be revising, Fri 30 Jul 2010, 15:23, closed)