I rang Work and told them that the surgery had been postponed and what did they want me to do, come back to work? "Well you only have one rostered shift for the days between when you are due back from holidays and the new surgery date, and we've already arranged someone to cover you, so just take a day off." Okay! But the day I was supposed to take off, someone called in sick, I got called and asked to work, and ended up working a 14 and ¼ hour day. But that’s okay. So I had a few days off to fill in, no problems with that I can assure you all.
The night before the surgery I read until about midnight, felt pretty good, I was getting a sleep in the next morning so I would be relaxed and ready for surgery. 0125 am, Friday the 17th August, 2008; the telephone awakes me from deep slumber. Constable Scott from the Warragul Police Station informs in her ever so lilting British accent that as I was the afterhours contact for Bizzy Bees she was letting me know that a water main had burst and flooded the shop and the keys were needed to access the shop!
Anita and I sprang into action, sprang in to the car, and drove to the shop. As we arrived, a workman form the water board was turning off the water stopping the flooding. We spoke to S/C Jenny Wiltshire, and then waded our way to the shop. It could have been worse. But there was a good 3-4 cm of water on the eastern side of the shop. We decided to move stock off the floor immediately to try to reduce stock damage and loss. We moved some fixture for the same reason, and tried to mop up the water with a bucket and mop on loan from the police station. It was a fruitless exercise. Too much water, too little sopping power! Sam’s Warehouse was flooded as well, luckily they had no carpet, but they still lost stock that was sitting on the floor and got waterlogged. We went home about 3.30ish and climbed back into bed, making a mental list of people we needed to contact the next day to see how things stood with insurance, etc.
As I had to be in hospital by eleven, and I still needed to pack, (and be rested) I stayed home and Anita went to the shop to marshal the troops. Well I actually made some phone calls from home to get some guys to help her in the shop, because once the carpet man arrived, we found that EVERYTHING needed to be moved out of the shop! So who do you call, our contemporaries mostly work full time, its Friday morning and most days off are Mondays. Thank God for the church family. I made a few phone calls to some men from church, and within half an hour Anita had all the help she needed. Grant in his 50’s but the others probably in their 70’s. Fit enough and willing enough to lend a hand. The carpet came up and we found it had to go out. Anita came home around ten and made some calls to the insurance company, and organised for an assessor to come out in the afternoon to help speed up our return to trading. The stock was spread across three shops in the centre. Hard to sell like that.
At around 1030 we left and she took me to the Hospital. First to admissions, first to be admitted, and first to go through that part of the day. As we walked into admissions it was empty, but as we walked out of admissions, the waiting area was full. Timing. Up to the ward we walked, and were greeted by the friendly faces of the surgical ward nurses, some of whom I know through work. We were asked to take a seat as they were busy and it might take awhile to get me through the admission process on the ward. Anita looked anxious to get going so I told her I would be alright, and she should get back to the shop. She had left shopgirl, Kerryn, in charge, but there is nothing like being there yourself to feel that everything that can be done is being done. Here is where I kind of lost track with the shop as I as now involved in my own little exercise for the day. I spent a good hour or more waiting for my bed to be readied. But that was okay; I read a magazine and then my book.
Finally I got shown to my room, only to discover I was by myself, a single! Hooray. It was definitely worth the wait. A little more waiting whilst the ’admission’ process took place, and then I got dressed for theatre. Not too sure if I like the disposable underwear they get you to use. The stuff is made out of the same material the make the disposable hair nets for the hospital kitchens outs of. I know I was wearing them when I went to theatre. I just don’t know what happened to them after that because I never saw them again! They had disappeared by the time I awoke in recovery! As it turned out I was first on the list for the afternoon surgery, which I think is great because all the surgical team were as fresh as they could be. It seems all went well; the procedure was completed laproscopicaly, which means a quicker recovery than open surgery.
The pain straight after waking in recovery was quite intense, after all, they inflate your stomach with gas to make it easier to look around inside. So a little bit of morphine, some oxygen therapy, and a few sets of obs’ later and I was wheeled back to my room. I am used to being on the other end of the saline drip, and vacuum drainage, so it was a good experience to go through really. The nurses were all great during my stay. I have an Easter egg shaped gall stone about 3 cm long as a souvenir. Anita gladly took it to show it off. Anita and the kids visited Friday evening, and Anita came back on Saturday morning after the carpet guy came to the shop for her to choose her ‘new carpet’. I was given the okay to go home on Saturday afternoon, after initially being told the drainage would be taken out Sunday before I could go home. So at about 1400 they rang Anita and pleaded with her to come and get me. Then came and took out my drainage, and cleaned and redressed the wounds. I was discharged.
The recovery so far has been great; I only had to take pain relief on Saturday Night and Sunday morning. The rest has been bearable. Apart from having to cough hourly, the pain is quite okay, and wearing pressure stockings to reduce blood clots is a fashion statement I’d rather not make but will put up with for the greater good. Anita's Birthday was probably a bit of a dud, but the kids gave her a present in the morning, and I gave her a present I had made up when I got home from hospital, and then of course her mum came for the afternoon and stayed for tea, so she was appropriately gifted and celebrated.
Anita was back in the shop early Monday morning organising the rear store room to be emptied so the carpet can be ripped up and replaced out there, and new storage racks put in there to replace the wooden ones we have discovered were also damaged. She has chosen new carpet which will go down Wednesday, so reopening on Thursday looks like the go. New counter and other fittings will arrive later I expect. Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment.
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