2 Nights in Hospital

So the day arrived and I was off to the hospital for my pacemaker implantation.

After a very sleepless night I got up, repacked my hospital bag just to check that I had not forgotten anything, got the children up and made sure all their stuff was also packed, as they were going to stay with their nanny (my mum) for the time I was in hospital. We thought that this was best as my husband could then accompany me while I was admitted.

With the children and us fed, we checked one last time to make sure we had everything, and then we were off. First stop; my mums house.

Once we had dropped the children off it was a walk to the tube station, then two underground lines to South Kensington.

My admission time at the Royal Brompton Hospital was 2pm. We arrived half an hour early and I was shown to a waiting room as my bed was not yet ready. An hour later my bed was finally ready for me and I was allowed to choose from six beds. I decided that the one near the window on the left side of the room would suit me fine.

Once I was settled, a very lovely nurse who was about my age came to do the paperwork and give me my identitiy wrist bands. I also had two lovely red ones as I am alergic to NSAID's, which translated is non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs.

I then had a cannula put in my elbow joint, as a ward doctor could not find a suitable vein in my hand (they are there though). Through this I had my blood taken. I was then put on an ECG monitor to see what was happening to my heart. It recorded that I had bradycardia (slow heartbeat).

After this I was wired up to a little box that transmitted to the nurses station what my heart was doing, so they could keep an eye on me and would know in advance if I was about to collapse.

The veiw from the window was not the best. All I could see was the tops of the other hospital buildings but at least it was a veiw.

Having been in the hospital before, I knew the food was suposed to be good and now I was going to try it. All I can say is that the food was the best hospital food I have ever had.

Then it was time for my husband to leave but before he did, one of the doctors came round to say that I should be going down for my operation at 2pm the next day.

I always hate it when my husband has to leave. It was only 8pm and I was all by myself, although there were other people there. In the bed opposite me was a lady about my age who had had a pacemaker since she was a child. Then there were two spare beds, one either side of the room, then on the same side as me was a lady whose heart was beating too fast and opposite her was an older lady waiting for a heart by-pass.

We all had a chat then I got out my sister's eee-pad that she had kindly lent me for this hospital trip. I was watching Japanese anime series AKB0048, which my brother has got me into but after a few episodes I got a bit tired and got ready to go to sleep.

It was another restless night, can anyone ever sleep in hospital? I was woken up at 6am by the nurse who came to check my blood pressure and give me my meds. Over night they had been quite worried about me as my heart rate had fallen to 40 beats per minute. This is something I would never have known if I didn't have this little box with wires attached to me.

So the day had come. I was given a hospital gown to wear and some special soap to wash with. Everyone except me and the lady two beds down had breakfast, we were nil by mouth.

Then the nurse came in and said that I might be going down in the morning instead, so I had to get ready... NOW. Off to the shower the nurse and I went (I was not allowed to wash alone as they were still worried about my heart rate) and I washed, then changed into the hospital gown - you know the type. Bum hanging out the back...

Having washed and changed, I had to go back to my bed and wait. I waited and waited, and then waited some more. Morning turned into afternoon and lunch had come and gone. Finally a porter came to get me at 2pm (the original time!).

I was taken down to the cath lab and left outside, happily sitting on my bed. A multitude of doctors then came out to talk to me and one gave me some very strong antibiotics via the cannula in my arm.
I was then asked to walk into the cath lab, where there was a bed with lots of computer screens at the side of it and a very big metal arm thingy with the x ray machine in it.

I got onto the bed and had my arms put in some scoops that were placed beside the bed. The pacing doctor then put even more stickers on me so they could monitor my heart throughout the procedure.

Finally, my consultant showed up and we had a little chat while the scrub nurse put iodine on my upper chest and over my shoulder. I was then given some sedation and had an oxygen mask put on my face.

When the local (yes, local!) anaesthetic was injected into me it stung at first but then my shoulder went numb. I must state at this point that local anaesthetic does not last for long in my body.

I could feel that my consultant was pressing on my chest and putting the wires in place. Once it was all in, the pacing doctor tested the device to make sure it was working. Then it was time to close me up. I could feel the stitches being put in, so I told my constultant. He said that he only had a few more to do and it would hurt more to have extra local put in than him finishing stitching me up. So I gritted my teeth and shed a solitary tear!

After I had been stitched up, he put some glue over the wound so I did not need a dressing. Then it was time for more local anaesthetic to have my Reveal© device taken out.

If I thought the last few stitches had hurt, this REALLY hurt as the local had to go directly into the scar. Thankfully this part of the operation was very quick.

Then it was all done and another test for the pacemaker. All was well so back to the ward for me.

It was about 4.30pm when I got back, so the op must have taken about two hours.

Once back on the ward I was in a bit of pain as the local had worn off, even though it's supposed to last four hours. My lovely nurse gave me some codine and paracetamol which took the edge off the pain.

I was so looking forward to my dinner, as I had been nil by mouth since the night before, and when it finally came it was SO nice. I always find that your first meal after not being able to eat for a while tastes the best - must be something to do with giving your taste buds a rest.

I had another uncomfortable night and was woken again at 6am for more checks. During the night my heart rate didn't go below 60bpm as that was the lowest rate that my pacemaker (PM) has been set to. If my heart rate falls below 60bpm the pacemaker will kick in and pace me for a minute. I also have what they call rate responce which will kick in very strongly if my heart drops very suddenly.

In the morning the pacing doctor came round to check the PM and everything was working fine. I just had to wait to be sent down for an x-ray to check the leads and then for a chat to the doctor before I could go home. But this took all day and I even got to stay for lunch.

The doctors were taking ages (as usual) and I was finally sent down to x-ray. My husband came to collect me ten minutes after I came back from x-ray but there was even more waiting. Finally at 2.30pm I was discharged.

The weather was horrid. We had only walked down to the end of the road and the heavens opened, monsoon style. We were both soaked to the skin for the trip back to my mum's to pick up my children.

It was so nice to see the little monkeys, I had missed them so much. They didn't know how to hug me and in the end we settled for side hugs. They both wanted to see the 'hurty' as they have named it. I have big hurty, the pacemaker scar, and little hurty which is the Reveal© device scar.

After my mum had fed us and dried our wet cloths, we went home. I did find that the seat belt hurt so I needed to put a towel there to pad it.

My first night home was a sore one but I got through it.