May 19, 2006

• I Want To Be Sedated…

  Jason took me to the hospital this morning and I checked in at 7:30am at Admissions.  That took about 2 minutes and they sent me back to Endosopy.  The lady working at the front desk there had the personality of a wet dish rag…but hey, she was a volunteer so…

  
  

  After about 5 minutes or so she took Jason and I back and put me in my little cubicle.  I was immediately greeted by a nurse who told me to get into my gown and strip from the waist up.  So I do so and she came back with a nice warm blanket to put on me and I was snuggled onto my bed.  Another nurse then came in and put in my IV and hooked me up for my vitals.  The staff seems to be very nice at this hospital and I’m pleased by this.

  
  

  Then another nurse came in and took me back to another cubicle where we waited until the doctor was ready for me.  Jason and I chatted while we waited about the procedure and such.  I told him to think of this as a trial run before my big surgery.

  
  

  A few moments later another nurse came and got me.  She told Jason to wait in the waiting room and someone would come get him when I was moved into recovery.  She assured him that it would only be just a few minutes.

  
  

  She took me into this nicely decorated room with cool monitors on the walls.  The doctor was in there scrubbing up.  He said hello to me and seemed to be quite pleasant.  This made me wonder if my experience with him the other day was due to him just having an off day or something.  Anyway, he wasn’t nasty with me at all…in fact, it was the opposite.

  
  

  He had me turn onto my left side and put an oxygen line on me.  The nurse put a towel under my head…apparently you a bit during this procedure, however I didn’t for some reason. He then sprayed the back of my throat with a numbing agent and preceded to give me drugs through my IV to sedate me.  One of the drugs was supposed to act as an type of amnesia simulator so that I wouldn’t remember the procedure…but I remember everything.  It wasn’t a bad experience though.  It didn’t hurt a bit.

  
  

  I did feel quite sleepy after he administered the drugs and had a hard time keeping my eyes open at first.  That was until he put the endoscope tube with the camera down my throat.  I was awake then…but only because it was a foreign object being inserted into my body and I could feel the pressure.  I looked up at the monitor and I could see my esophagus and then my stomach.  I saw some lesions in my stomach and thought that can’t be good. 

  
  

  After a couple of minutes the doctor removed the tube and told me that I did extremely well with this procedure.  He said that he didn’t have any difficulty with it at all.  He also explained to me what we saw.  He stated that I have some erosion in my esophagus and a bit in my stomach as well.  However, he assured me that it is treatable with medication and that he was prescribing something for me to heal it.

  
  

  He also ensured me that I am just fine to have the surgery.  That was music to my ears!

  
  

  So then I was wheeled into recovery and felt like I’d drank way too many margaritas! I was a bit groggy…but more drunk feeling than anything.  The nurse brought Jason in and he sat with me.  The nurses monitored my vitals for about 30 minutes or so and brought me some juice to drink.  They made sure that I was somewhat alert and could drink without pain before letting me leave.

  
  

  I was OK…but felt a bit drunk.  It was alright though…I was quite enjoying it actually, the feeling giddy part…not the groggy part.  Jason took me to Einstein Bagels and got me something to eat and then he dropped me off at work where I’ve been the main entertainment for the day.  My friends are SO mean to me I swear! The BRATS!  Oh they picked on me and tried to mess with me, knowing that my reaction time wasn’t quite up to par…brats.

  
  

  I did talk one of them, my friend Kim, into driving me to get lunch this afternoon.  I certainly wasn’t going to go with one of the guys because they were enjoying this just a little too much.

  
  

  Anyway, I have stuff to finish here so I guess I better get back to work. 

  
  

  Hopefully soon I will be able to post when my surgery date is.

  
  

  

  • 5:01 pm
  • 4 Comments