6th - 9th September
I have included 3 days here as each day was much the same. Wake up, take medication, lay on bed doing crosswords, listening to music through my headphones, eat 3 times a day and get wheel chaired to the toilet numerous times! My partner and my son took turns in coming to see me which was nice to break up the day but it was only for 1 hour a day maximum. My last day in Bournemouth and my brother came to see me. I hadn't seen him for over 6 months due to Covid Lockdown and it was only the week before my heart attack I was trying to arrange to visit him and his family. Imagine my surprise when the nurse poked her head behind my curtain in the morning and said someone had come to see me. Visiting was only in the afternoons, and she said it was my brother! "My brother"! I said, and yes there he was poking his head around. What a lovely surprise.
Previous to this visit, he was saying that when I came round from the Op, I would be called Davina and have 36GG bust. Made me laugh and he always does. 
9th September, this is the day I joined the Army many years ago. You never forget that 1st day and it has always stuck in my head. I was a fit young lad back then, I am still fit, just have a dodgy artery that needs fixing!
Today (9th September) was the day I was moved to Southampton General Hospital in the back of an ambulance. They gave me about 3 hours notice, so plenty of time to pack up my things. My partner had been in the day before with a box of chocolates and some thank you cards so i could thank them for looking after me. Bournemouth Hospital nursing staff were really nice, just like all the other hospitals really. So i wrote out a card and handed the chocolates over and the card when I was wheeled out of the ward.
40mins later, I was in Southampton......things were about to change!
I am taken to a ward on the 2nd floor and into a room that has 6 men including myself and in close proximity to everyone else. Its not a particularly pleasant experience as the 2 men in front of me isn't quite with it. They have to have a carer constantly watching them 24 hours a day. Why? I have no idea but one doesn't speak particularly well, perhaps mentally incapable to a point and the other........ is a bit odd. Especially when a nurse is doing a procedure on the other man and this guy who is directly in front of me is peeping around his curtain!! Both gentleman are older than me, but not by much and that's definitely not an excuse.
I also had another blood test by someone called Zoe. Zoe was very nice, very pleasant and talkative which is nice when someone is sticking a needle in your arm to reassure you. Zoe was hard of hearing apparently, and she had a golden labrador on a lead as her hearing dog. I have never heard of such a thing. I was surprised to see a dog on the ward, but a pleasant surprise. Even more surprising was that Zoe was clearly a man, dressed as a woman. Absolutely nothing wrong with that and each to their own, but as the blood test was being done (took an inordinate amount of time, a good 30mins to have a blood test and put a cannula in) I was thinking at what stage was Zoe at in her transformation? Perhaps there was no transformation at all, but was happy living her life as a woman. Bless her, she was nice. But I got a little concerned that she came back to see me 3 times for some reason and eye contact was direct. I think I must have made a friend as I was just being myself and being nice to her. Heres a photo of her handywork. Good job I thought.
There was no food for me when I arrived as it was after tea time, and because of the travelling, I missed tea time at Bournemouth Hospital. I asked the nurse about 8pm whether I could get any food and she said she would phone the kitchens and find out. About 9.30pm, I ended up with a sandwich from somewhere. I don't think it was from the kitchen, and I didn't care, I was just hungry but at least I had something before turning in for the night. I was of course hooked up to a cardio monitor, so many leads hanging off me.
I was also told that tomorrow afternoon I would be having my operation and nil by mouth from 6am tomorrow. Deep joy I thought, apprehension about the operation started to creep in.
I didn't sleep much that night due to the two guys opposite me and due to the noises of everyone elses cardio monitor. Surprising just how much they alarm and depending on whats wrong, the alarm will NOT stop unless intervention from a nurse to push a button to reset it. It gets very irritating, very very very quickly!!!!
Boy was I tired.......9 days with very little sleep across Poole, Bournemouth and now Southampton Hospital.