Video journey of my surgery

This is just a collection of little vlogs I did while in hospital and the days afterwards.

 

✨ My Surgical Journey – The Big Day ✨

Well...

I did it.

As I'm writing this, my surgery was two weeks ago.

I've been posting little video updates along the way, which I'll upload here soon, but if you're impatient (or just nosy 😂) you can find them on my Facebook and Instagram.

https://www.facebook.com/katherine.henden

https://www.instagram.com/katbin24/

😳 The Night Before

The instructions were simple:

🚫 No food after midnight.

🚫 No drinks after midnight.

Easy enough.

Except nobody mentioned you also have to survive an entire night with your own thoughts.

I don't think I slept for more than ten minutes.

Every possible disaster played out in my head.

"They'll cancel because of my BMI."

"I've forgotten something important."

"I'll get there and they've double-booked."

"My surgeon will have gone on holiday."

Completely rational thoughts, obviously.

Arrival

I had to be at the hospital by 7.30am.

Knowing I was the only patient having surgery that day, I assumed I'd have plenty of time to settle into my room, take some photos, maybe film a little update...

Nope.

I barely had time to put my bag down before the conveyor belt started.

Within what felt like minutes I'd met my nurse, the surgical assistant, the anaesthetist, the pharmacist, my surgeon and, most importantly, the lovely lady from catering.

(Honestly, she deserves a shout-out because that woman looked after me like I was family all weekend.)

🎨 Becoming a Human Colouring Book

When Mr T arrived, I had to strip down while he took clinical photos.

Then came the Sharpie.

He started drawing all over my body. Lines, arrows, measurements.

At one point I looked less like a patient and more like someone about to be assembled from IKEA instructions.

I really wish I'd taken a photo because it was absolutely ridiculous.

Seeing all those markings suddenly made everything feel very, very real.

😴 Lights Out

About forty minutes after arriving, I was being wheeled into theatre.

A cannula went into my hand.

A mask went over my face.

I remember thinking...

"This gas doesn't seem to be doing anyth..."

Next thing I knew I was waking up.

😲 Seven Hours Later...

In my mind, I'd been asleep for about ten minutes.

In reality?

It was nearly 6pm.

I'd spent over seven hours in theatre exactly as Mr T had predicted.

Which, oddly enough, felt reassuring. No surprises. No complications. Just a very long day at the office for everyone involved. Especially my surgeon.

I don't blame him for going home afterwards.

I'd have needed a lie down too.

🚽 The Toilet Incident

Unfortunately the recovery room had removed my catheter. Nobody seemed to know why.

This became a problem several hours later when nature inevitably called.

The night nurse confidently helped me sit up, then stand. My body immediately responded with:

"No."

Everything went black, I couldn't hear anything, I felt hot, dizzy and incredibly strange.

Next thing I knew I was back on the bed while he stared at my blood pressure monitor looking distinctly alarmed.

Apparently my blood pressure had completely fallen through the floor.

A commode soon appeared beside the bed. Not exactly the glamorous post-op experience I'd imagined. Getting onto it, however, was another story.

Between the tummy binder, the surgical drains digging into my groin and the fact that my stomach had essentially just been rebuilt, every tiny movement hurt.

A lot.

💧 Water? No Thanks...

The solution was apparently:

"Drink lots of fluids."

Which is excellent advice unless you're desperately trying NOT to need another wee.

Thankfully they eventually hooked me up to another saline drip instead.

🤦‍♀️ The Cannula Saga

Meanwhile, the cannula in my hand was becoming increasingly painful.

My thumb started going numb and the outside of my hand lost feeling.

I mentioned it several times.

"It's fine."

Spoiler alert.

It wasn't.

Eventually they removed it, only to discover later that they urgently needed IV access again because my blood pressure had crashed.

Oops.

Cue the on-call doctor arriving in the middle of the night to put another cannula into my other hand.

💨 The Unexpected Villain

Nobody prepares you for the gas pain. Apparently, during surgery, air gets pumped inside your body and eventually has to escape naturally. Occasionally it can get trapped.

That trapped gas was more painful than my gallstones and if you've had gallstones, you'll know that's saying something.

I asked for a peppermint tea because I'd read it could help. That tea never arrived.

To be honest, the overnight care wasn't brilliant - I was the only patient on the ward, yet every time I pressed the buzzer I felt like I was interrupting something.

Thankfully the gas eventually settled on its own anyway.

💉 "Do You Want Morphine?"

As the anaesthetic wore off, the pain started creeping in. So I asked whether I could have something stronger.

The nurse casually replied, "You can have morphine if you want."

Me: "Will it help and is it ok to take with my BP being so low etc?"

Him: "I don't really know... it's your choice."

After weighing up my extensive medical training (which consists entirely of watching Holby City), I decided to say yes.

Thankfully it worked.

☀️ A Better Morning

The day nurse arrived and immediately things improved.

She looked through my notes, listened to everything that had happened overnight and couldn't believe I'd been encouraged to stand so soon after surgery.

Instead, she produced a bedpan.

Never in my life did I think I'd be so excited to see one.

👀 The Moment I'd Waited 20 Years For

Mr T visited first thing. He said everything had gone perfectly.

Then he removed my binder. I was absolutely dreading this moment as I'm ridiculously squeamish.

I still couldn't really feel my stomach because everything was numb.

Then I looked down and said, completely without thinking:

"I CAN SEE MY VAGINA!"

The room went silent.

Then everyone laughed.

I had to explain that for almost twenty years I'd been looking over a mound of loose skin and fat and seeing the bottom half of my body without it was genuinely emotional.

I noticed the tiniest smile on Mr T's face as I think he realised, in that moment, what this proceedure had really meant to me and he had done his job well!

👙 The Biggest Surprise

My breasts.

I had expected them to be agony but they weren't. In fact I had almost no pain at all.

Even more surprisingly was that I already had feeling in my nipples.

The nurses kept checking blood flow throughout the day and everything looked fantastic.

The messages started rolling in after I posted my first video. Apparently my cleavage was already making quite the comeback. I'll take that. 

My husband thinks they are smaller but we were warned this could happen and over the coming months would fill out again to the correct size.

❤️ Going Home

The next day I was finally discharged.

One drain had already been removed but the other, unfortunately, had to stay attached for another day.

I was sent home with a measuring jug and instructions to record exactly how much fluid collected every 24 hours. Not a sentence I ever imagined writing.

Thankfully it came out the following day.

Unfortunately, the drain site later became infected but that was easily sorted at home.

🛏️ Next Time...

So that's surgery day.

The excitement, the fear, the morphine, the commode, the gas pain, the accidental vagina reveal.

And finally...

The first glimpse of the body I'd been dreaming about for almost twenty years.

Next time I'll be sharing what recovery at home has really been like.

Spoiler alert: Trying to rest while you have children, dogs and a household to run is about as relaxing as you'd imagine...

As mentioned, I'm having my post op appointment today and hoping to get my dressing off so I should be able to take my 'after' pictures and can share the visual results very soon.