archersangel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
archersangel) wrote2015-08-26 01:38 pm
archersangel) wrote2015-08-26 01:38 pm
Entry tags:
my medical issues
since july of 2008 i've been having attacks of what i thought was divertivulitis, but early in the morning of aug 23 i found out that it's my gallbladder that hates me and had to be removed. plus an anxiety episode decided to join in the fun.
after a big attack of this issue in feb. which i though i "fixed" by doing the recommended liquid diet followed by soft foods but at the end of july it happened again. so i tried the fix again but the first day back on more solid foods (aug. 16) gave me issues so i went back to liquids & soft foods. they tried solid food and on aug. 19, 20 & 21 did fine. had pizza on 22 and just after midnight on the 23 is when it all went downhill.
TMI & medical talk follows this point.
after the usual bought of pain i started throwing up, then threw up bile & after a while i noticed that i was doing these short, shallow but kind of quick breathes. i try to take longer, deeper breathes but it doesn't work. i asked my dad to take me to the hospital. we get there about 3 a.m. wait a while to get a exam room & told that the breathing issue is "just anxiety" (i've never had anything like that before) which doesn't calm down for at least another hour.
then the test start. they put in an IV port thing (i warned the tech about my bad veins) but she gets one right away. blood is taken & pain and anti-nausea medicine follows. then a CT scan followed by a ultrasound which is followed by an ER doctor saying the gallbladder is "full of stones & inflamed" and needs to come out by laparoscopy. this is at about 7 a.m. it's not long before someone from transport come to take me to my room and my dad goes home. (he's been updating my brother during this time.)
i get up to the room, get asked questions for the registration & get various vitals done. take a brief shower (after having the IV port wrapped with a plastic baggie of some sort) try to watch tv & find there's nothing on. i nap on & off. no one at at this point told me when the surgery would be so at 10 a.m. or so i decide to call my brother to tell him the room number & room phone number. at that point a nurse's aide walks in so i ask "does anyone know....?" she responded "3 p.m. there are several emergencies ahead of you." my brother says that he & dad will come in later. i ask for him to bring a pen and paper so he can post to a few places (including here) if things go south.
they come by at about 2:30, we sit and talk. then it's 3:00, but i'm still there, then 3:30 & at 4 or shortly after the nurse comes in to say i'm going in now. but a couple of minutes later she says it will be delayed awhile longer. we talk and watch tv awhile longer, my brother goes for a coke at a vending machine. then my dad and brother decide to go for something to eat, so i nap and they come back at about 5:15 and shortly there after the nurse come in to say it's time to go. i was like "are they sure?"
my dad insisted that my brother walk down with me to the pre-op/post-op area where we find out that they've had 10 people operated on in the OR that day when they usually have only 3 (and at least 4 more after me). my brother stays with me for a while, even though i tell him to go back to the room & it's ok to go home when visiting hours are over. this is at about 6 p.m. at a little after 7 my brother goes up to the room & i tell him if they make them go home at the end of visiting hours, i'll talk to him in the morning. it's not until after 8 that they take me back but the surgeon isn't there yet and we have to wait about a half hour for him. eventually i go into the OR, get on the table, get knocked out & wake up at about 11:30. my dad & brother were still waiting, so my dad had a nurse call the post-op room & talked to the surgeon, everything went well.
get back to my room & get awoken every two hours to have vitals & incisions checked, and for me to pee. which i couldn't do much of until 6 a.m. when i get a blood sample taken (which also goes well with a small-gauge needle) i get checked on a few more times through out the morning by various nurses & the surgeon's physician's assistant (at this point more people have seen my butt, boobs & crotch than i'd like) then the hiccups start, because they pump air into the abdomen for the surgery & it presses on a nerve for the right shoulder. so a dull 3 on the pain scale in the shoulder becomes a sharp 9 every time i hiccup. they let me go after a liquid lunch with instructions not to lift anything more than 20 pounds or do anything strenuous for two weeks. keep the incisions dry and see the surgeon (or his assistant) in two weeks. i get home in pain form the incisions, gas in the gut & pain in the shoulder every time i hiccup. i go to sleep early & had to go out the next day (tuesday) because of an appointment my dad had, get very tired & sleep early then too. it's wed. now i have less pain (especially in the shoulder) but still feel run down.
so that's my first big medical thing (not counting wisdom teeth removal.) and i keep thinking about sid, who went in for a surgery, seemed fine then passed away. i know this is a different thing than she had, but my brain refuses to be rational.
after a big attack of this issue in feb. which i though i "fixed" by doing the recommended liquid diet followed by soft foods but at the end of july it happened again. so i tried the fix again but the first day back on more solid foods (aug. 16) gave me issues so i went back to liquids & soft foods. they tried solid food and on aug. 19, 20 & 21 did fine. had pizza on 22 and just after midnight on the 23 is when it all went downhill.
TMI & medical talk follows this point.
after the usual bought of pain i started throwing up, then threw up bile & after a while i noticed that i was doing these short, shallow but kind of quick breathes. i try to take longer, deeper breathes but it doesn't work. i asked my dad to take me to the hospital. we get there about 3 a.m. wait a while to get a exam room & told that the breathing issue is "just anxiety" (i've never had anything like that before) which doesn't calm down for at least another hour.
then the test start. they put in an IV port thing (i warned the tech about my bad veins) but she gets one right away. blood is taken & pain and anti-nausea medicine follows. then a CT scan followed by a ultrasound which is followed by an ER doctor saying the gallbladder is "full of stones & inflamed" and needs to come out by laparoscopy. this is at about 7 a.m. it's not long before someone from transport come to take me to my room and my dad goes home. (he's been updating my brother during this time.)
i get up to the room, get asked questions for the registration & get various vitals done. take a brief shower (after having the IV port wrapped with a plastic baggie of some sort) try to watch tv & find there's nothing on. i nap on & off. no one at at this point told me when the surgery would be so at 10 a.m. or so i decide to call my brother to tell him the room number & room phone number. at that point a nurse's aide walks in so i ask "does anyone know....?" she responded "3 p.m. there are several emergencies ahead of you." my brother says that he & dad will come in later. i ask for him to bring a pen and paper so he can post to a few places (including here) if things go south.
they come by at about 2:30, we sit and talk. then it's 3:00, but i'm still there, then 3:30 & at 4 or shortly after the nurse comes in to say i'm going in now. but a couple of minutes later she says it will be delayed awhile longer. we talk and watch tv awhile longer, my brother goes for a coke at a vending machine. then my dad and brother decide to go for something to eat, so i nap and they come back at about 5:15 and shortly there after the nurse come in to say it's time to go. i was like "are they sure?"
my dad insisted that my brother walk down with me to the pre-op/post-op area where we find out that they've had 10 people operated on in the OR that day when they usually have only 3 (and at least 4 more after me). my brother stays with me for a while, even though i tell him to go back to the room & it's ok to go home when visiting hours are over. this is at about 6 p.m. at a little after 7 my brother goes up to the room & i tell him if they make them go home at the end of visiting hours, i'll talk to him in the morning. it's not until after 8 that they take me back but the surgeon isn't there yet and we have to wait about a half hour for him. eventually i go into the OR, get on the table, get knocked out & wake up at about 11:30. my dad & brother were still waiting, so my dad had a nurse call the post-op room & talked to the surgeon, everything went well.
get back to my room & get awoken every two hours to have vitals & incisions checked, and for me to pee. which i couldn't do much of until 6 a.m. when i get a blood sample taken (which also goes well with a small-gauge needle) i get checked on a few more times through out the morning by various nurses & the surgeon's physician's assistant (at this point more people have seen my butt, boobs & crotch than i'd like) then the hiccups start, because they pump air into the abdomen for the surgery & it presses on a nerve for the right shoulder. so a dull 3 on the pain scale in the shoulder becomes a sharp 9 every time i hiccup. they let me go after a liquid lunch with instructions not to lift anything more than 20 pounds or do anything strenuous for two weeks. keep the incisions dry and see the surgeon (or his assistant) in two weeks. i get home in pain form the incisions, gas in the gut & pain in the shoulder every time i hiccup. i go to sleep early & had to go out the next day (tuesday) because of an appointment my dad had, get very tired & sleep early then too. it's wed. now i have less pain (especially in the shoulder) but still feel run down.
so that's my first big medical thing (not counting wisdom teeth removal.) and i keep thinking about sid, who went in for a surgery, seemed fine then passed away. i know this is a different thing than she had, but my brain refuses to be rational.
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I'm still on the mend from some fairly risky surgery (basically they fused C2-C6 in my neck, involving metal, bone re-use, and some 'donor bone.') It had to be done (the alternative was eventual quadriplegia,) but the not-knowing whether I'd wake-up again after they took me into the operating room was...yeah. Regardless of how well one thinks they've prepared themselves, mentally, for the event, it can still be...well...unsettling.
And, of course, all surgery has risks. Even the routine ones.
I don't really know what to say to you, except that I get it, about as well as someone who isn't you and doesn't know you can. Yes. You might've died. The risk was quite small, but it was there and it was definitely real. The important thing was that you didn't. In actuality, you take similar risks, daily, when riding in a car or other transportation, or crossing a busy street. It's simply that we're used to those risks, and therefore take them for granted.
FWIW, I'm glad that you got through okay, and that you're apparently recovering well. May you recover completely and quickly, and remain well for years and years to come. *g.*
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and you as well.
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