Friday 22 August 2008

Under the knife

I was at St. John's today for a minor operation to remove a wart from my upper lip, something I've had for almost twenty years, I reckon, but which has started to overgrow this year. The operation went very smoothly. There was a bit of hanging around, as expected, before I donned my gown and was wheeled down to theatre. You feel a bit of a fraud getting manoeuvred round the corridors and into the lift, but I suppose that if anything were to happen in the theatre then you're as well in the bed!

The most painful part was the injection of the local anaesthetic into my top lip. That fairly made my eyes water! There are better things to be doing of a Friday morning! Mr. Bahia was the surgeon who did the cutting and stitching. I had damp gauze over my eyes as the light was shining full in my face so I didn't see him advance with the scalpel which was probably just as well. I was aware of him working round the lip, but didn't feel a thing. It was over and done with fairly quickly and I was discharged soon after returning to the ward, arriving home about 1130 with a swollen lip, some self-dissolving stitches and a hungry tummy. Fortunately there was no great pain as the anaesthetic wore off and the location of the scar didn't really interfere with my eating! I even made it into work in the afternoon (only because I was busy. I was enjoying the peace in hospital to read my book!)

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