"Triple heart bypass"

It was a mixed experience at first. I was told that I'd be taken to the OR at 0720 on 2 July so would be admitted the day before. Then I was told that I would be the next patient that day so I should turn up at 0800 on the day. Having been admitted and prepped, I waited and waited until I was told at about 1400 that the first patient was still being operated on. As I had nobody to give me a lift home (annoyingly the hospital assumes that everyone has help) they organised a cab.

The bed manager told me that I'd been rescheduled for Thursday morning so would need to be admitted the day before by 1830. So, I got to Harefield again, went to the nurses station, looked around as there was nobody there and saw a screen which showed my operation for the afternoon. So, not pleased at being admitted unnecessarily on Wednesday.

The following day on Thursday I was taken to pre-op on time. The next thing I knew I was awake at 0430 on Friday in intensive care, immediate thought was that I was still alive! On a number of occasions the nurse said "Breathe", so I have to thank her for keeping me alive. It was never explained why I was kept under for about 16 hours.

After one night in intensive care I was moved to high dependency where I had an uncomfortable night as I had a sensation of wanting to urinate all night but was repeatedly told that the catheter was working. Thankfully the next morning a doctor said it could be removed.

I then spent the next two nights in a private ward as there was no space in an open ward, so no complaining there. I had two blood transfusions but the second was terminated due to an elevated temperature. I was given potassium twice and discovered that I'd also been given insulin when I asked about a cylinder near me.

On Monday I was unexpectedly discharged as the doctor had come round that morning and said they needed to do something (can't remember what). After a blood test and chest X-ray I was discharged that afternoon in another cab. So, back home less than 96 hours after my operation ended.

I think that I was probably discharged a little early as that night I woke up, went to the bathroom, felt my way around and discovered that I was at home and not in the hospital, so was disorientated.

I was alarmed when I discovered some hard object on my back the next morning when showering. With difficulty I photogrpahed it and send it to a hospital nurse who identified it as something which had been left in place when the ECG was done.

I was visited three times by the same nurse who checked the wound and took my blood pressure.

I'm very pleased to say that I've made a full recovery, helped partly by using mammary arteries and off-pump surgery, though neither was explained to me. I felt that I had to do more digging around for information than necessary, so some more communication would have been helpful.