It is done - hurrah! All went very well. The staff at the Churchill were lovely and looked after me very well. The consultant who operated was a sweety. He spent a long time investigating my veins under a local anaesthetic and decided to use a different vein than he had planned. This means that if it works and it develops well I will not need any further surgery. It also means there is another vein available to use at a later date. The surgery took about 1and 3/4 hours. I had a lovely christian nurse looking after me telling me all about his boys. He has decided to take them out of school and home school them. We had an interesting chat! I now have a slightly sore arm wrapped in swaddling as it has to be kept warm and protected for 5 days. I have to listen with a stethoscope twice a day to hear what is called the 'thrill' as the blood rushes through the fistula. As long as that continues the fistula is developing. Overall the experience was very positive. Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers.

The highlight was when he explained to the SHO that as I was a young woman I might have need of the fistula for 40 years! Wow what a thought!