Wednesday 1 April - OPERATION

At 07:00 I have to report at the NKI hospital, no breakfast allowed. After filling in some forms, I have to wear a special mini apron and at 7:45 I am wheeled off to the operation theater. The scheduled operation is called (ex-)conisation [a cone-shaped piece of tissue is cut out of the cervix] and hystoscopy [after cleaning out the uterus, it is inspected with a micro camera]. When offered the choice between local and general anesthesia, I opted for the last (am scared of the idea of needles in my spine and really don't need to see what is happening) so once in the room I get some regular injections and a mask, so I doze off quickly. That is good because I felt very cold. Once I am fully awake (but still very sleepy), they take me from the recovery room to my personal room, where Fred takes this photo. The rest of the day he stays with me, to hand me things, provide me with drinks and of course offer moral support. I doze most of the time. Around 4pm he has to leave to be home for the children. Saman and Yekuno went to my sister's place on Tuesday night and spent the night there. Luckily her daughters had a day off from school, so there was some flexibility. The 4 cousins get along nicely and the girls loved to take the boys to school, pick them up later the same day and sport together in the afternoon.
Once Fred was gone, I started feeling more awake and with that, more miserable. Horror memories from my one previous hospital stay (Asoka hospital, Colombo, early 2000, with hemorraghic dengue fever) came to haunt me, I got a headache and felt to nauseous to eat. After some medication and gentle care from the nurse, I started feeling better and eventually went to sleep in a good state of mind.