I’m not normally much of a one for selfies, but I didn’t have much else to take today. This is me after a hernia repair operation. I noticed a small bulge a few weeks ago and contacted my doctor. I was then referred to King’s Park, where I saw a specialist and we agreed to do the operation.

That’s today.

So I turned up at 0900 and was invited through to my room. There I changed into hospital gown and TED socks. I waited a little while before walking through to the pre-op room, where I was cannulated and anaesthetised. I woke up to find myself like this.

After that I was in some mild discomfort, but was amazed at what happened when I tried to stand up. I hadn’t realised how much work one’s core muscles do when doing normal things like standing up, and they were not there to be used after the operation.

So I lay in bed for a while, eventually steeling myself to getting up and being collected by Marie. I just went home in my dressing gown, walking quite gingerly through the waiting room to get to the car. After that Marie drove me home and I went to bed.