Monday, April 22, 2013
Filling out forms!! Blah!
I love how at French hospitals you have to do admission a few days before you are actually required to be at the hospital.
So on Friday the 14th after seeing Dr Sokoloff (a.k.a. the French-Russian anaesthetist with the cool bicycle :-)), we went off to Clinique Bizet to fill out forms. Soooo much fun (ha ha). Although I got to have hot chocolate while waiting, and French hot chocolate is a-ma-zing.
Ooooh I forgot to say my cousin came with us to Paris this time, so he was also drinking hot chocolate with me and borrowing my DS. And asking all about having operations, but that was fine, because he's never actually had surgery, but seen me go through quite a few. However he has been to casualty many times, including for swallowing mothballs!
I got a private ward again Woot! Although Dr Firmin's PA always books them for her patients.
After the hospital, we went to check out the lights at Champs Élysées which was amazing, but deserves its own post!
Madame Moola
I should probably explain the whole Madame Moola thing. At the hospital they kept referring to me as Madame Moola, which in English translates to Mrs Moola. It sounds a lot better in French right? So as a joke I decided to use it as my login name for all my accounts because it sounds cool!
The funny thing though is that on my script for my TTOs (take home meds) my doctor wrote Enfant Moola which translated to english basically means CHILD Moola! Lovely, considering I was 19 at the time!!!!
The funny thing though is that on my script for my TTOs (take home meds) my doctor wrote Enfant Moola which translated to english basically means CHILD Moola! Lovely, considering I was 19 at the time!!!!
Arriving in Paris
My second op was scheduled for the 17th of December, so we got to be in Paris during their winter.
It was COLD!!!!!! When I say cold, I don't mean Joburg cold I mean 5 degrees cold! Thank goodness for K-Way 3 in 1 jackets!
Unfortunately there was no snow. I'm sure snow would have made it a lot colder, but it would have been so pretty!
In Paris, people seem to start working later during winter, so we only got to see Dr Firmin at 18:00 on the Thursday we arrived, eish!
The Goal of my second op was to separate my ear from the side of my skull, as well as create an earlobe.
The earlobe is usually created during the first op, but I had A LOT of scar tissue that Dr Firmin had to deal with, so she decided to leave it until the second op.
It was COLD!!!!!! When I say cold, I don't mean Joburg cold I mean 5 degrees cold! Thank goodness for K-Way 3 in 1 jackets!
Unfortunately there was no snow. I'm sure snow would have made it a lot colder, but it would have been so pretty!
In Paris, people seem to start working later during winter, so we only got to see Dr Firmin at 18:00 on the Thursday we arrived, eish!
The Goal of my second op was to separate my ear from the side of my skull, as well as create an earlobe.
The earlobe is usually created during the first op, but I had A LOT of scar tissue that Dr Firmin had to deal with, so she decided to leave it until the second op.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Recovery
The ear wasn't in much pain, and what little pain, and what little pain there was went away pretty quickly. You have to wear a hat for one month post-op, for sun protection. And you can only swim two months post-op. the swelling takes about six months to go away.
The rib pain took about six weeks to go away, and you shouldn't be doing contact sports or anything that makes the pain worse during that time.
The rib pain took about six weeks to go away, and you shouldn't be doing contact sports or anything that makes the pain worse during that time.
Meeting the new ear
I only got to see my new ear for the first time 3 days post-op. here's what I saw:
Even though it was covered in blue ink and looked kind of wacky, I couldn't believe I had an ear. I had to keep it covered for another week, and had to wear a hat for a month after that.
It's been healing wonderfully and looks even more amazing now.
Today (01-11-12)
Even though it was covered in blue ink and looked kind of wacky, I couldn't believe I had an ear. I had to keep it covered for another week, and had to wear a hat for a month after that.
It's been healing wonderfully and looks even more amazing now.
Today (01-11-12)
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Post-op
The op was on Monday andI only left hospital on Thursday. That's 5 days including Sunday. Discovery would throw a hissy fit if that happened here :-P.
My new ear didn't hurt, it was the 3 ribs that hurt. And they hurt A LOT!! That should be no reason to not have the op though!! The trick is to get out of bed the day after theatre. I walked to the cafeteria for some yummy French hot chocolate and also in the garden a little bit. I also sat in the recliner that was beside my bed ( good for the back which hurts because you sleep funny because of the rib pain).
The TV only had one channel (in French) even though the clinique's website said they had 28 including international channels. The hospital did have wifi (or weefee as they call it in France). It cost 6€ a day, which is worth it since it's uncapped! I could then skype and go on facebook on dad's tablet. Being the local bookworm though I spent a lot of time reading.
The nurses are great even though you speak half English half French, and don't give you attitude like some SA nurses I've had. The one nurse was grumpy sometimes, but I think it was because she was on nights that whole week.
Discharge was simple, and there were no long queues. And they ladies at the front also organised us a taxi so that we didn't have to take the métro back to our apartment :-)
Drains
My new ear didn't hurt, it was the 3 ribs that hurt. And they hurt A LOT!! That should be no reason to not have the op though!! The trick is to get out of bed the day after theatre. I walked to the cafeteria for some yummy French hot chocolate and also in the garden a little bit. I also sat in the recliner that was beside my bed ( good for the back which hurts because you sleep funny because of the rib pain).
The TV only had one channel (in French) even though the clinique's website said they had 28 including international channels. The hospital did have wifi (or weefee as they call it in France). It cost 6€ a day, which is worth it since it's uncapped! I could then skype and go on facebook on dad's tablet. Being the local bookworm though I spent a lot of time reading.
The nurses are great even though you speak half English half French, and don't give you attitude like some SA nurses I've had. The one nurse was grumpy sometimes, but I think it was because she was on nights that whole week.
Discharge was simple, and there were no long queues. And they ladies at the front also organised us a taxi so that we didn't have to take the métro back to our apartment :-)
Drains
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