Hospital Pre-Op

December 7th 2018 was the date of my pre-op appointment. I was advised to allow 3 hours, so I took the day off work. It did take 3 hours with a lot of waiting around, so I advise taking something to pass the time.

I was given a wristband and a “passport” which is a small card that you take to all the different health care staff who initial that their part has been done.

The categories at this appointment were Bloodwork, ECG, Anaesthesia, X-ray and Nursing

Bloodwork

My blood pressure was 144/79 which is acceptable for my age although a little higher than normal. My blood oxygen was checked and was 99/100. This is probably due to being a non smoker.

ECG

I had approximately 10 electrode pads stuck onto my front. I was not told of any readings.

Anaesthesia

I was advised to stop taking any aspirin 7 days before surgery. This is because aspirin is a blood thinner and after surgery I will be put on a blood thinner to help prevent blood clots. It was explained to me that a general anaesthetic is  NOT administered and, in fact, a spinal block is used. I did voice my concerns about being awake during the procedure, a fact which is scary to me, and was told that morphine is also fed in to the drip in order to sedate me. I am told that it is easier to recover from a spinal block than a general anaesthetic. Personally I would rather be “out cold” but that will not happen.

X-ray

An X-ray was taken of my whole pelvis as well as one of my right hip also. This was done at the very beginning of this journey and I did not get to see this one as I did the first.

Nursing

The nurse checked my papers were all in order, confirmed my date of surgery as well as personal details. I was advised of equipment needs (not everyone attends hip school I’m told) and re-iterated most of what I was told at hip school. She told me quickly because I had been to hip school and had papers from that to refer to. I also filled out a questionnaire about myself with various questions about medical history.

However, one question completely brought this all to a standstill. The question was Allergies? To which I replied yes to metal allergy. The nurse was very upset that I had not been asked this question by anyone before now. The nurse called the surgeon about this but had to leave a voicemail.

Whilst driving home I realised that I did not know what time to show up on January 4th 2019 for surgery. I also left a voicemail for the surgeon mentioning the metal allergy also.