Waiting for the IV to be taken out.
This morning I woke up raring to go. I'm pooped though now!
What did I do?
Well, my wonderful husband Larry and I took our son to school and then headed for our 30 minute road trip to the Hospital for my EGD.
I don't guess I knew exactly what to expect. I'm super happy though that my Grandma always taught me to take a shower and wear clean panties and deodorant before a Dr's appointment.
So, I checked in at the admissions desk and ran into a girl I graduated with. *side note-it's been 8 years since we graduated.* Then, I was taken upstairs to get ready. I had already told Larry the night before oh man, I hope I don't have to wear one of those hospital gowns for this. ...and he and I walk into a room with many people with curtains pulled...little privacy. AND...guess what I see... YEP...a hospital gown. We both laughed. I couldn't get the curtain to pull all of the way closed so Larry stood in the crack for me. So, I get my gown on, get all my clothes and my shoes in a bag and then get laid down. Next, the nurse basically is telling me how things are going to go down. ...lab technician will come in to start your IV, your nurse will come in and ask you a bunch of questions...she's going to take you to the room and your husband will be taken to the waiting room...when we get you to the room you'll take some spray lidocaine to numb your throat and then we'll start giving you the happy medicine...it usally takes about 5 minutes, but depends on what they see...then from there you'll be in recovery for about 30 minutes and then be brought to here again where we'll allow your husband back in...take the IV off and then release you...and then we'll take you out by a wheelchair.
What do I remember?
-Lady poking me in the left arm bend and it infiltrated and then I had to be poked in the left forearm...this was successful.
-Discomfort from the blood pressure cuff.
-Doctor coming in and talking to me.
-Lidocaine spray tasting like Cepacol throat spray but definetly higher dosage. Was I crazy or did I really taste cherry?
-One of the Nurses basically putting this little cyclinder plastic piece that would keep my mouth open and I could bite it with my teeth.
-Wondering why I no longer had that on my mouth.
-Laughing because I could see that I had two pointer fingers on my left hand. It had a blood oxygen monitor.
-Asking the nurse more questions about the procedure and how much longer until I would have it, and being told that they were finished.
-Being back in the recovery and talking to my honey.
-Getting out my IV and then being taking by wheelchair to meet Larry in the front of the hospital.
Now, Larry says we went and got gas at Sam's but I don't remember that.
Next place I went, was the the lab...I gave them my right arm. They took 3 tubes of blood and sent me to the next floor down. I got my chest xray taken, one with my chest to the wall of the unit and another with the left side of my body against the unit with my hands held up. I was then free to head to the next floor down where I could get my EKG. They stuck all the pads on me, and then hooked me up to the machine and told me to be still and then that was done after a minute it seemed. I was free to check out.
At this point, I was planning to go and get my food for my diet from my Doctor's office. When I went I ran into my WLS buddy! It has been great being able to talk to someone else that is going through the same kind of processes. She had tests today to and showed me her arm from her blood work. My battle scars are in no way as bad as hers.
Successful IV Placement
Anyway, I ended up being told that I would need to wait until I spoke with the nurse at my appointment time at 3pm and that I really should not have started my diet until today. (GRRR! I could have had the pizza)
So, while I'm eating lunch with Larry I get a call from the Doctor's office and I'm told that they can work me in earlier! YAY! I'll go for it!
I get there and ask my uber million questions. I'll probably be in the hospital from Monday to Wednesday. Basically, my preadmission will consist of the dietician since I got a lot of it done today. My blood work was already back and everything was ok. I asked questions about having other things alongside my things given and she said it would be okay, but that I really wanted to stay with the nutri-med stuff. I also asked about items she might could think I could take...chapstick, mouthwash. Although she said that I'll be able to have the liquids or ice chips fairly soon so I wouldn't have to worry about being dry. I talked to her about medicines afterwards and I'll have liquid pain medicine and I won't have to have liquid vitamins. They will send me home with B12 to dissolve under my tounge and chewable vitamins that would dissolve would be okay also. She told me that I'd want something that had iron and calcium.
I have the upperhand on this diet because I've done it before. I did really good last time. So, I'm gonna' stay positive. I came home and basked in the glow of FOOD. Actual food instead of the liquid I stuck to yesterday. I'm super excited! I made out like a Gastric Nutri-Med Bandit!
The Goods!
After, getting back to my city it was time to pick up our son from school and take him to his Doctor's appointment. We made a stop off at Dollar General for Skim Millk but they didn't have any so we went on to the gas station close to the house and BAM, Skim Milk! ...we DID NOT want to go to Wal-Mart because we were so ready to be home.
Once home, I got some laundry started and cleaned out the refrig of leftovers and started the dishwasher I unpackaged all of my food/drinks. Larry helped me sort and pack by day. I coordinated meals/drinks to last me until my surgery into sandwich bags so all I have to do is grab and go!
Thanks for reading,
Jana
