OK it might have only been a hernia operation rather than say, brain surgery, but it’s not entirely trivial. It is after all open surgery under general anesthetic, a full day in hospital with strict rules on what you cannot do before and after. For instance, I am not allowed to lift anything heavier than a kettle for 6-8 weeks.
Anyway, it was my first “proper” hospital experience so I hoped for the best and feared for the worst. In the pic I look weak, tired and hungry because that’s how I felt. I had to wait for 6 hours on the ward having had no food or water since the night before.
The good news is that so far at least, there have been no abnormal issues post-op. Given that 10% of these procedures result in “chronic pain” (rather than mere regular pain) I’m fairly lucky.
Dr Martin James 