Introducing Olive.

Meet Olive, my gallstone who has been removed from her sneaky home in my gall bladder. As you may have surmised the operation today was carried out successfully as a keyhole procedure. There were lots of adhesions to the stomach. intestines etc. but as promised the consultant was able to do it and fix the umbilical hernia without reverting to open surgery. So much easier to recover from and less time off work.

I was in a ward with 3 other ladies (2 gall bladders & 1 hernia) and once we had roused ourselves and were drinking tea/ coffee and munching on toast we had a very chatty time which made the day pass enjoyably.

There was one last bit of drama before I left. One of the needles in my hand and the saline drip had been removed earlier but they leave one in until the end just in case.The nurse took out the needle and taped some gauze over it. That was fine until I sat in the chair to get dressed and put my hand down to pick out my clothes from their basket under the table. Whoops, blood started streaming down my arm, over the bed, floor, gown and leg. A quick call to the nurse who came back with another swab and held my hand in the air. She then had to press the buzzer as she needed more wipes, swabs etc. We had a good laugh as I said I was going to get my money's worth out of the NHS.

Peter is now fussing around and insisting on accompanying me up the stairs so I'll sign off now.