Over the weekend, Rod and I swapped our couch around, so I can sit on the side where no one has access to my left leg. After the first excision, there were a few occasions whilst in the process of telling a story or a joke, people automatically patted or touched my leg. Lesson learned.  

With Vline fares capped at $10, I caught the crowded train to Melbourne Monday afternoon. I settled into the tiny studio apartment the P.Mac accommodation team had organised for me which is a 2 min slow walk from the apartment to P.Mac. If the bed were a bit more comfortable, it would have been perfect. The cost was a mere $99 for the night! There is a Victorian patients rebate scheme for those who need to access specialist services away from their home towns, so I will get a $50 rebate for the accommodation, making it an affordable option for us country kids.

Everyone from the day unit staff to the anaesthetics team were awesome. Once they realised I was a nurse, there were lots of in jokes and fun to be had. In particular, the discussion with the anaesthetics team about sedation V general. I opted for sedation and local “…just don’t give me ketamine, for God’s sake – who knows what I might say!” Cue lots of laughter…

One of the anaesthetists had done her intern year at Wangaratta back in 2017 and thought we’d worked together in ED. Such a small world! My surgeon also a fun (easy on the eye) guy, giving me a slap on the shoulder after he’d just drawn all over my leg. Certainly helps to keep things light. Once back in day stay, I ended up with a hot lunch instead of sandwiches – they really looked after me. And for my NHW colleagues, will we EVER get EMR? Seriously, their system is fab. No time wasting looking for charts.

Rod arrived just after 130pm and we headed home. It was a dreadful day to be on the roads. I was feeling pretty good until we were in the car, then the combination of drugs + movement = nausea. I just shut my eyes (and mouth) and tried to sleep. We stopped at Seymour and I had an ondansetron, some ginger beer and a few plain chips. This is my go-to anti-nausea combo and it worked well. I chatted to Rod for a few minutes and promptly fell back to sleep until we arrived home (where I put my PJ’s on and got into bed, of course).

Hamish jumped into bed with me (careful to get in from the right side) for a long cuddle and lots of hand holding; he is just the sweetest kid, so affectionate (just like his Mum). I shooed he and Rod away and slept a bit longer. Rod had made me some dinner, which I devoured at 8pm and settled in for a bit of TV watching with an ice pack on my leg.

I’ve slept well overnight (only got up at 1045), my leg is fat and sore and not very bendy at the knee. Sutures out in two weeks, but given my past history I think we’ll make it 3 weeks. Histo report next Friday then I’m booked in for immunotherapy starting Thursday 19^th October. More about that in another post.

Based on my previous experience with a leg dressing, I have come up with 2 excellent ways to keep a dressing waterproof:

• Helgas bread bag. Cut a small hole, put leg in, tape bag above dressing. Pefect. Why Helga’s? I tried other plastic bags, but they either weren’t waterproof or they were too bulky. You’ll never look at Helga’s bread the same after this!
• PICC covers. So for those of you (that’s probably most of you) in the healthcare field, it turns out a PICC cover, for keeping PICC’s dry in the shower, fits on my leg, seals the water out, no tape required, multiple uses.

If you’re not familiar with my legs, you’re about to be! In particular my left thigh. I’ll let you know at the start of a blog if there’s going to be a pic of sutures or wounds that you might not want to see.

And before you panic about the size of the wound in the Post-Op pic, whilst it is big, the sutures are just where those dressings overlap. Not from the top to the bottom. It looks worse than it is…

If you are not a regular FB user, but want the updates, go to the webpage https://meladrama.blog/ and hit the follow button, add your email address and it will deliver the blog to your inbox. Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll work on a backstory blog this week, to fill in some gaps.

Much love, Bel