General Chat

Woops. Posted on the wrong board. Senior moment.
OH is going to hospital on Monday to have a rather threatening looking mole removed from his abdomen.
Have just read his paperwork......no easy feat in Spanish..... & realised that what they refer to as local anaesthetic is actually an epidural.
Macho man thinks he will be OK for the 1 hour drive home within a couple of hours.
I beg to differ.
Does anyone know how long an epidural takes to wear off. I can see him being advised not to drive for 48 hours or so,but what do I know.

If it's the same form of epidural used for childbirth, there's no way on earth that he will be able to drive within a couple of hours!

The whole lower half of the body is affected.

I remember that during my labour ( painless thanks to the epidural) that I felt a strong pulling sensation in my neck.
I mentioned it to the medic who found that my left leg was dangling down the side of the bed!

I wish your OH well with the procedure and test results

Thanks Glasgow Lass.
That was what i thought, but I´m just the idiot round the place.
Do you think it might bring on a personality change at the same time please???? :-0 :-0

I remember MY warm feeling, prior to my TURP op!!

they could've cut me in half and I wouldn't have known!!
Bob

my husband had circumcision performed that way - when I called in to visit him on the ward he had a pink glow all about him :-D :-D :-D It didn't last that long though - the pink glow I mean ;-)

Had to have an epidural for a very large hernia op (was out for 3 hours!)

The pain was unbelievable.

Drive home - huh - he will be lucky if he can walk properly for at least 24 hrs.

My hubby is having a kidney with a tumour removed on May 6th with keyhole surgery. I won't give you any more details in case you're having lunch.

Annie

Very thoughtful Kuros.
I´ve put it to him that driving will be out of the question, so he´s come up with another brilliant idea.
We will catch the bus to the bus station & take a taxi up to the hospital. So far so good, but then we will do the same coming back.
How he thinks he will get onto the bus, or walk home at the other end, I have no idea.
I can foresee having to get a taxi all the way home from the hospital at a cost of around €75-80.
Guess who will have to fork out. He spent this months pension a week ago.
Have suggested he asks one of his mates to come & pick us up so they don´t have to hang around all day. But that will mean we have to wait at the hospital for an hour or so until they get there.
A cup of coffee & a sandwich in the restaurant is a lot cheaper than a taxi home. :-| :-| :-|

Good luck for tomorrow x

Thanks to all for your input.
What a fiasco!!!!!!
Arrived at the hospital with OH getting paler by the minute, only to be told they were running late & there would be a 90 minutes to 2 hours delay.
You would have thought OH had barbed wire in his pants because he just couldn´t sit still. He wanted to take me for a coffee but I said not, because he was "nil by mouth" so it didn´t seem fair.
They finally called him in at 12.45, his original time being 11 am.
I took myself off for a coffee & a sandwich & went back about 20 minutes later & settled down with my book. At 1.15 he came bouncing out grinning all over his face. All they had done was freeze the area, cut off the melanoma & sent it to Palma for analysis.
He now has to go back on May 12th for the result & to discuss further treatment.
Thing is, the diagnosis paper he has been given actually states it is a malignant melanoma, so why all the fiddling about.
As the ex pats here are fond of saying "Es Menorca"

I suspect they have to do a biopsy to actually prove it is a malignant melanoma, just in case it isn't. :-)

I´m sure you are right Ann, but would have thought that was what they did when he went 3 weeks ago........and why all the info about an epidural when all he had was a normal numbing injection.......and why nil by mouth after midnight, which was emphasised again this morning.......but then "Spanish practises" have always been a mystery to me.
Have to say though that the care here is excellent & they always tend to err on the side of caution.