Post Post-Op Op

Local time: Saturday, 1.20pm

Back in the hotel again, on the mend from yesterday's revision operation. I was showered and put into a hospital gown yesterday afternoon, then taken upstairs in the clinic where I once again met with the anaesthesiologist who'd done my SRS. This was reassuring, both because he was a familiar face and because I hadn't expected there to be an anaesthesiologist for this operation at all. IV drip in my right arm this time, and a cold sensation there that slowly took me to dreamland; not like the mask-over-the-face variety which knocks you off straight away.

I regained consciousness in a small ward in the clinic, watched over by one of the clinic nurses. Fell asleep again almost immediately. Woke back up, and mum was in there. The anaesthetic haze was fading quite quickly, and the time was apparently an hour or more after I'd gone into surgery. So, I got up, slowly made my way downstairs with the help of the nurses, and sat on one of the clinic's couches while they arranged for Jib to drive us back to the hotel. Someone from the clinic offered me cake and hot cocoa, because I hadn't eaten since 6am that morning and also to confirm that I can eat and drink normally. Rather nice; cake is always a consolation.

Then it was time to go. Pulled myself back up, and wobbled out the back of the clinic to hop in their vehicle. I can't exactly remember how I managed to get into the 4WD, but I guess it mustn't have been very difficult. Shuttled back to the hotel, led upstairs by mum. I remember feeling pretty lucid at the time, but my poor memory of details has a thing or two to say about that.

Collapsed onto the bed with a fresh sanitary sheet under me and still in the clinic gown, and began to sleep as per Dr Suporn's instructions. Or actually, I think I checked my email before sleeping. Not sure.

At some point mum ordered up room service for dinner, and I sat up in bed and ate pretty heartily. Then went to sleep again. Woke up noticing the pain. Slept. Woke up. Rinse, repeat, all night. What does a freshly repaired haematoma feel like? It feels kinda like a paper cut, but much much more intense and painful. And because it's swelled, there's no convenient way to keep the gown or anything else from making stinging contact with it. By morning though, I was actually feeling surprisingly well, despite the bleeding all over the gown and the sheet (fortunately, none on the bed). The surgical site looked a mess, though most of it was superficial dried blood that washed away easily. And the new wound had mostly closed, except for some very minor bleeding.

And the cosmetic repairs... well, Dr Suporn is highly skilled indeed. He'd closed the opening in the labia, and with the haematoma reduced to a suture line, everything looks much more balanced. Even moreso, the pain I was experiencing in the last few days from standing up was gone. I'm not sure whether it's because there's new swelling that has moved things into more comfortable positions, or because it's simply meant to be that way, but judging from the fact that other patients don't seem to have had the discomfort I did, I think it might be the latter.

Walking around very slowly today, but at least it's been less painful than previously. And aesthetically, the whole area looks really good, albeit swollen. Something about Dr Suporn: he's a perfectionist and an artist, and when you put yourself under his care, you become his artwork to refine in these revision operations until he's happy. This can be scary - one patient told me of her experience wherein he took the opportunity during her FFS revision to perform some surprise revision of her SRS too. But trust in him and the result generally seems to be great.