So here I am again, on the way to recovery after what I can say was a pretty traumatic experience. So my exchange transfusion did not go to plan and I ended up staying in hospital for 3 days instead of just the over night stay. I had exactly one day to do the last of my bits I had to sort out before my admission to hospital in preparation for my hip replacement operation.

Everything about my hospital visit so far was not what I expected it to be and the realization that perhaps things had not really changed from my last visit in hospital eleven years ago hit me hard and made me feel quite disappointed and nervous. I felt upset because I realized that some of the medical professionals still do not listen to the sickle cell patients and therefore cause more trauma for some people than is necessary. Had the anaesthetist listened to me and administered sedation before inserting a line into my groin, I would have not gone through that traumatic pain and he would have not been in a state of panic.

Now let’s also talk about my haematology experience;

I questioned if my body would like the fact that it had not experienced a full blood exchange transfusion in over 11 years and if it would react against this. I also felt that maybe the transfusion was being administered too near the date of my surgery and perhaps it could have been done a week and a half before. This would have allowed a longer time to recover if things did not go to plan. These were my thoughts and although I mentioned this to the nurse again the medical profession always have an answer for everything that you question.

I still left hospital with a positive mindset because I knew that I had to be positive for the next stage of my journey; the hip replacement surgery that I had put off for over fifteen years.

Little did I know that what lay ahead of me was something that I believed deep inside could happen to me and I just wasn’t prepared.

Laurel

You can read Laurel’s previous blog here: www.sicklecellsociety.org/hip3/

You can find Laurel on Instagram here: @laurelbrumant