EVAR Plus

Back-blipped on 5th February 2020.

With heart-related procedures out of the way, my long-awaited EVAR operation took place in Beaumont hospital on 24th October. I blipped this notice on the second-last day of my hospital stay. I'd got a call from a member of the vascular consultant's team on the 23rd, telling me to check in at the main reception desk, but that was unmanned when my taxi dropped me off at the appointed time of 7:30 am. Having checked in, I'd been told to proceed to DOSA (Day of Surgery Admission), which I did. After forty minutes waiting without been called I was told I should have registered at the main admissions counter near the hospital entrance, so back I had to go, get my piece of paper, and then be taken through the pre-op procedure, including the usual sign-your-life-away release form.

A senior member of the consultant's team (a guy I'd met several times, and who was well aware of my desire to have the procedure done) explained that it might be necessary to resort to a more complicated procedure rather than the straight-forward sounds-like-a-stent EVAR I'd been told about up to this.

When I came out of the anaesthetic in the recovery ward I found out that the more complicated option had proved necessary. A 3-day stay had been mentioned originally, but I ended up in hospital for five days. Recovery proved difficult, and both during my hospital stay and during a follow-up appointment I was told that what I'd had done was in fact fairly serious stuff and that it would be six to nine months before I recover fully.