Well by now I was supposed to have a new knee and should have been just
about ready to put weight on it but alas no. My operation was cancelled!
I was admitted on Tuesday as planned at
Swindons's Great Western Hospital having spent the previous 2 days crapping myself with nerves and packing then repacking and generally hanging about with a knot in my stomach.
On the Monday I phoned admissions as requested to check that there was a bed
available.
'Yes your bed is
available an your operation will be at 11:00 am with Mr Kennedy' informed the kind lady at the other end of the phone.
'But my surgeon is Mr
Deo' I replied.
'Sorry Mr
Deo is on leave, Mr Kennedy will be doing your surgery, he's very good you know'
'I'm sure he is but he's not touching me, he
knows nothing about me, do you even know what I'm having done?
'er, no, it'll be on the list and your on the
list' replied kind lady'
'I suggest that you contact Mr
Deo's office, because he's operating on me on Wednesday morning and I don't think he'll be best pleased to find that someone has already operated on his patient'
'
Ok' said lady now not sounding so kind 'I'll call you back'
Six hours later the ward sister called me to inform me that Mr.
Deo would be operating on me on Wednesday morning.
'Yes I know that, that's what I told the admissions lady six
hours ago' she chose to ignore that remark.
'Can you come in at 2pm tomorrow (Tues) afternoon, come straight up to the ward@
We arrived at 2pm on Tuesday and approached a nurse at a desk and gave my name, she quickly glanced at a large wipe board with names and times written all over it, she then visibly turned pale and whispered something to another nurse who soon became
agitated and then turned and smiled and suggested that we might like to wait in the corridor for a moment. After five minutes a red faced nurse came out and ushered us to my room. I was most impressed, en-suite bathroom, TV a good view of the A419, alas but no trouser press or mini bar.
'Would you like some tea?' asked the nurse.
'That would be nice' I replied, 'Shall I lie on the bed or what?'
'Er, no, could you just wait here, Sister will be along to see you shortly'
An hour later Sister came in and I hit the roof 'CANCELLED, what do you mean?'
'I'm ever so sorry the parts
haven't arrived'
'I'm here for a knee replacement, not a 50,000 mile service'
'Oh yes I know you see we've got the implant just not the extra size drill jig that we need to fit it, as your having a rare implant we hire it in and it hasn't arrived. Can you come back next week?'
Bring it on next Tuesday!