Some questionnaire

I was bemused by yesterday’s post. It was a letter from the hospital asking me to fill in a questionnaire concerning my last op. It was sent by the MacMillan nurses at the Breast Unit. It was not the easiest form to fill in.

Bear in mind the op took place last October. Questions included such things as when I’d last had a drink before the op, the time of the op as opposed to being admitted into the hospital, when I did last eat, when did I leave the hospital to go home.

As I say I had to guess at some of the answers. If the questionnaire had come last year, they would be nearer the forefront of my mind. Instead I had to guess what time I would have got up – I do remember having some water then - & when I left the hospital (I did note down in my diary we got home at midnight, though we had stopped at Asda to collect a quick microwave meal in order to ensure I had some solid food that day before I went to bed – I’d only had a couple of slices of toast since the evening before). As for the time I left the hospital, I was too concerned about getting home to check the time so had to guess on the basis of the fact I had noted the rather late time I had arrived home.

All this is supposed to enable them to come to some conclusion about whether people do better if they have an afternoon op, as I did, by not arriving in the hospital until later in the day. I certainly would have appreciated being able to get a bit later in. 7.30am at a place that, pre-the Bay Gateway Lancaster bypass, took over an hour to drive to, is rather early for me, especially as I wanted a shower first (that alone takes me half an hour these days) as I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I could safely have a shower afterwards.

I couldn’t help thinking, too, that my case was a bit exceptional. I’ve had numerous ops in my adult life & so I’m used to hospital procedures. I’m probably less tense about being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar routines than most people as a consequence. I know to expect a lot of waiting around & to take a puzzle book to keep me going for the wait. Others would probably be a lot more stressed out.

Equally I had been told there would be an overnight bed for me as it was feared there might be complications as I use my arms to move around, to get up & down for the loo etc. & I wouldn’t be able to use one arm for a while afterwards for fear of tearing open the wound. This would not apply to most women having the op.

In the end I waited to fill in the form until I could consult with the Fox to see if he had any clearer memory. Between us we came up with a reasonable approximation of times etc. I just wish they’d asked last year.