Well, I went to the hospital for surgery as scheduled on the 31st of March arriving at there at 0630 hours to book in and see my room for the first time. I had my Wife and 13 year old Son with me to keep me company, so I got comfy on the bed and waited for three hours to see the wardsmen at about 0930 hours for a lower leg shave. Lovely. in the previous 18 hours to being admitted I had developed a full blown[pun I know]head cold and couldn't breathe thru my nose at all. Great, I thought...waiting all these weeks for a surgey date then go and get a cold! Both my Wife and I thought they might not operate, but when the Anaesthetist came in for his first pre-op bedside visit he said it would be OK and he'd give me some nasal drops to open my sinuses up before I went under.
I think the waiting for my turn in the theatre was the worst part, and to make matters worse I could see the surgeon's and his helpers working on the poor guy before me thru the op theatre window! I couldn't see the procedure itself, but I could hear all the tools they were using! Yuk!
I was wheeled into the pre-op room next to the theatre at about 1000 hours but didn't see the Anaesthetist until 1130 hours. He was very professional in his manner and gave me the promised nasal drops, popped in the IV line and pushed me into theatre where I met the rest of the Surgeon's team. I was immediately at ease and as I wriggled over onto the stainless slab and got my first sleeping drugs I was out to it.

I woke up in recovery about 75 minutes later to a Nurse saying, William- you need to breathe deep! deeper she repeated! My throat was on fire, probably from the respirator tube and oxygen I guess. I could hear a alarm sounding near me, and every time it did I heard the Nurses' voice-breathe deep William! Took about ten minutes to come out of the induced sleep, and I was as thirsty as after fasting for about sixteen hours. I remember being wheeled from recovery to my room and looking at my left leg and foot and thinking how big it looked........turns out is was in what they call a 'slab cast' and would be for the next fourteen days. D'oh!
I was in my room when my Wife and Son arrived and boy, was I glad to see them! A Nurse brought me a meal of painkillers[I'm allergic to Morphine and it's derivatives]that made me immediately nauseous. A quick injection of Stematil sorted that, followed by an injection of anti clotting drug into my shoulder muscle[ouch!]. I was too ill to eat anything so just kept my fluids up to avoid the IV drip. It was by now about 1530 hours and all I wanted to do was sleep, undoubtedly a strong painkiller side effect. I said goodbye to my family and spent a restless uncomfortable night listening to all the noises hopitals make on the 'graveyard shift'
Wednesday morning I ate a light breakfast with toast and coffee, then my Surgeon arrived for a post op chat. he said all went well, no complications and if I wanted to I could go home that afternoon once i had shown I could use crutches. Of course I said yes please! Best of all though, I could start weight bearing on the ankle in only two weeks, how good is that?