Pre-operation assessment - and a change of plan

This morning I drove to the hospital in the city for my pre-operation assessment. First up was an ECG at the cardiology department. It went very smoothly. I am familiar with ECGs but I haven't had one in a while. The results showed nothing unexpected.

Then I found my way to the women's health department for an appointment with a gynacologist. I saw D, a booking co-ordinator - I think - who took me through the process for my surgery next week. She asked me lots of questions and also gave me more information on the laparoscopy. I am also going to have a hysteroscopy at the same time, which will involve the same sort of procedure but will look through the vagina at the uterus rather than looking through the abdominal wall. The whole operation will take about an hour and a half. We are not sure yet whether it will be in the morning or the afternoon, but if it is the morning I may not have to stay overnight.

After that, I saw the anaesthetist. She asked me a lot more questions and we talked about my medical history. Before I left the hospital, I had a quick blood test, and then I drove home.

However, just after I got back, I received a call from D at the hospital. She explained that the anaesthetist would prefer me to have the surgery at the hospital in the city, rather than the smaller hospital nearer my home, because of my cardiac history and also because when I had my wisdom teeth out earlier this year I apparently required extra sedation. She is not concerned, but would just like to have the extra resources and expertise available at the main hospital. My surgery will now not happen next week, but has been moved to 26 January.

I am disappointed about this. It would have been nice to get the surgery out of the way next week and then to have the Christmas break to recover. And I liked the idea of being in the smaller hospital nearby. But at least this way we have a bit more certainty about the date, although I still won't find out exactly what time of the day the operation will happen until closer to the time. I only wish the anaesthetist had looked at my notes and made her decision before we'd planned for next week!