On hold

I was in the starting blocks all day yesterday, but in fact it was seven in the evening before the Professor condescended to drop by. He looked at my war wounds and seemed very undecided as to how to proceed. In the end he just said he would think about it and sort something out either today (Wednesday) or tomorrow.

I had an unusually good night's sleep and was hardly awake this morning when the Prof turned up again, this time accompanied by half a dozen of his disciples. He had another look at the wounds and announced what he intends to do tomorrow (Thursday):

1. Sew up the original stoma hole
2. Replace the tracheostoma with a larger one
3. Do an endoscopy on the "new oesophagus" to check for any leaks and to widen it so that I can start to at least drink normally.

He seems satisfied that everything is coming along nicely. This morning, at his command, many of the tubes were removed and I only have a few left. That's always a sign of positive progress.

One of the nurses put a bit of a dampener on things when she said that I might not be ready for release by Christmas. I told her I bloody well would be...!!