Dr Saravanan Rathinam 2018-04-21 Person 4 5 0

Last weekend I was booked into St Albans Ciry hospital for a partial knee replacement and had been told that although I had the choice, consultants there favour use of a spinal block over general anaesthetic. Despite my huge fear about this method (who would relish the idea of an injection into one’s spine?) I could see that avoiding that sick, swimmy head post surgery would be good. Dr Rathinam explained to me in detail what would happen and this put me at my ease. When I went down to theatre and met him again in the anaesthetic room he was chatty and smiley and again, told me exactly what was happening. When the dreaded moment came I felt a mild stinging of the local anaesthetic going in but when he administered the block I genuinely felt nothing other than a bit of pressure. I remember thinking ‘this can’t be it’ but it was! Once in theatre he administer the sedative and off to sleep I went. I did become conscious whilst still in surgery and, far from freaking me out, it was interesting and comforting hearing the team chatting between themselves and having a brief exchange with the surgeon. It all felt amazingly normal. The screen was dropped and I saw some poor guy with a huge sausage leg over his shoulder and it took a moment to register that it was my leg! Absolutely no feeling connecting me and it - weird. Recovery was quick and in no time I was heading back to the ward for a cup of tea and a ham sandwich. Flipping brilliant. If this guy is your anaesthetist, have no worries. He’s top class with the perfect pitch of friendliness and professionalism and is a dab hand at administering spinal blocks.