Surgery hours

I am writing this at 10.20 in the morning. I am due for an operation in a private hospital at 3.30 p.m., under insurance cover. I shall have to leave the hospital before sundown, because it is considered as a 'day' case, unless complications arise. I think I shall have barely three hours to recuperate. I shall not be able to drive afterwards, and many people have told me I shall not be able to go upstairs to my bedroom, even. But I shall have to leave, nonetheless.

I was told by the insurance company that it is the surgeon's fault, because "he should know operations are carried out early in the morning. If it is for his convenience, the insurance should not be made to pay". But this operation is being done under emergency, at the surgeon's first availability. You learn as you go along. At no point did I hear the insurers commit themselves to a reasonable recuperation time. All I heard was the word "procedures". I am certainly going to the operating theatre under stress. So may I tender some advice. Make sure your surgeon operates as early in the morning as possible, because you don't want to be sent home in pain without professional care, as I shall have to. Apparently, any time from 4.30 a.m. onwards is ideal. If the surgeon can't, (and they are human, and sometimes can't) then it's too bad for you, as it is for me.