M
MARIPOSA
Guest
Thurs, Nov 6, ’08 MediPort
As with any surgical procedure, no food or drink after midnight and no Blood Sugar meds the day of procedure. Needless to say I was a bundle of nerves and didn’t sleep very well at all. I dragged myself out of bed at 6 AM and arrived at the hospital at 7 AM, praying that I would be able to snooze a little before they wheeled me into surgery. I was quickly checked into my room to await my ‘conscious sedation’ procedure. So far so good. Then the battle began to get that IV into my arm. OMG, it took 3 separate attempts and I almost cried by the time the nurse was finished. Dang, that hurt worse than when the dentist numbed my whole jaw. I sure will be glad when I can use this porthole instead of getting all those botched needle jabs!!!!
About 7:30 AM my room mate woke up and I quickly discovered that she had Alzhiemers: this lady babbled and hollered from distress for 3 hours straight. I found myself getting a migraine from all the stress and tension she evoked. Yikes, no nap for me, but I could tough it out for a few hours, right? Wrong!!!
I was scheduled for a 9:30 procedure but was bumped by a priority emergency. I told the nurse that I wanted to be moved out of that room!!!!! I offered to sit in the hall in a wheelchair if I had to. Heck, at this point I would wait down in the lobby. LOL . They very kindly came to my rescue and moved me immediately. At last some peace and quiet. But by now my tummy was growling from hunger. GRR
Finally, they came for me and that song kept running through my head as they wheeled me through the corridors “They’re coming to take me away HA HA!†Let the party begin. Boy, they sure did a great job prepping me, swabbing me from my face down to my waist~ they even taped down my bosom so it could not move 1 cm if I tried to move and I was really strapped down to that table. Then they draped sterile cloths over my head so I wouldn’t breath into the open incision. I felt like a little kid playing ‘tent’ under my covers LOL I asked plenty of questions about the actual procedure. It was nice to be awake and able to chat with the surgeon. Just thinking about what steps they were going to take could freak someone out so I won’t go into gory details, except to say that they inserted a pretty purple MediPort into a ‘pocket’ in the front of my shoulder and it had a long thin tube attached to it. This tube they thread just under the skin and into the superior vena cava which leads into the heart. Very scary concept indeed. I felt the surgeon working on me, felt the pressure as he inched that tube along, and before I knew it ~ it was over. Only when they removed my tent was I able to see his face. LOL
They wheeled me back to my room where they were going to monitor me for 3-4 hours then release me. WELL, about 2 PM the nurse announced to me that my temp was over 100 and they would keep me a few hours longer. A few hours turned into overnight. GEEZ At least I got dinner. LOL I was given anti-biotics and Tylenol all night and by morning my temp was finally down. Even though my temp was under 100 It was too late for me to even consider the chemo they had scheduled for today because I was supposed to take some special drug 12 hours and 6 hours prior to the infusion. It would have to wait now till I had been on antibiotics for 7 days. Maybe next Fri??? They released me about 1PM with instructions to apply antibiotic topical ointment to my sutures 2XD beginning the second day. I went home and slept like a baby, dreaming of going to the infusion center for all the rest of my labs. YIPPEE
I’m always apprehensive to remove the dressing for the first time and actually see my surgical ‘souvenirs’, but this didn’t look too shocking at all. Nice clean cut, Very irritating, and somewhat painful due to the bruising, but I soon learned that part of the itching pain was due to the waterproof tape they used. Once I ripped this sucker off the pain quit immediately. GEEZ
So this brings us to Sat night and I am finally showered, shampooed, rested and ready for my Sister to arrive. Soon as she walked into the house she showered me with gifts (always something blue or butterfly related) and I managed to stay awake for a few hours more before I conked out for the night.
It’s now Sunday morning. I’m still tired and lethargic cuz I did not sleep very well due to all the medications, but doing relatively well. It’s nice how my hubby insisted on taking my temp so faithfully and hasn’t let me lift a finger for any of the housework. OK, now to figure out what my sister Deana and I are going to do today to amuse ourselves.
BTW, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and good wishes. It sure is nice coming to cyberspace and seeing all of this kindness and support. Love you all
Hugs, Mariposa
As with any surgical procedure, no food or drink after midnight and no Blood Sugar meds the day of procedure. Needless to say I was a bundle of nerves and didn’t sleep very well at all. I dragged myself out of bed at 6 AM and arrived at the hospital at 7 AM, praying that I would be able to snooze a little before they wheeled me into surgery. I was quickly checked into my room to await my ‘conscious sedation’ procedure. So far so good. Then the battle began to get that IV into my arm. OMG, it took 3 separate attempts and I almost cried by the time the nurse was finished. Dang, that hurt worse than when the dentist numbed my whole jaw. I sure will be glad when I can use this porthole instead of getting all those botched needle jabs!!!!
About 7:30 AM my room mate woke up and I quickly discovered that she had Alzhiemers: this lady babbled and hollered from distress for 3 hours straight. I found myself getting a migraine from all the stress and tension she evoked. Yikes, no nap for me, but I could tough it out for a few hours, right? Wrong!!!
I was scheduled for a 9:30 procedure but was bumped by a priority emergency. I told the nurse that I wanted to be moved out of that room!!!!! I offered to sit in the hall in a wheelchair if I had to. Heck, at this point I would wait down in the lobby. LOL . They very kindly came to my rescue and moved me immediately. At last some peace and quiet. But by now my tummy was growling from hunger. GRR
Finally, they came for me and that song kept running through my head as they wheeled me through the corridors “They’re coming to take me away HA HA!†Let the party begin. Boy, they sure did a great job prepping me, swabbing me from my face down to my waist~ they even taped down my bosom so it could not move 1 cm if I tried to move and I was really strapped down to that table. Then they draped sterile cloths over my head so I wouldn’t breath into the open incision. I felt like a little kid playing ‘tent’ under my covers LOL I asked plenty of questions about the actual procedure. It was nice to be awake and able to chat with the surgeon. Just thinking about what steps they were going to take could freak someone out so I won’t go into gory details, except to say that they inserted a pretty purple MediPort into a ‘pocket’ in the front of my shoulder and it had a long thin tube attached to it. This tube they thread just under the skin and into the superior vena cava which leads into the heart. Very scary concept indeed. I felt the surgeon working on me, felt the pressure as he inched that tube along, and before I knew it ~ it was over. Only when they removed my tent was I able to see his face. LOL
They wheeled me back to my room where they were going to monitor me for 3-4 hours then release me. WELL, about 2 PM the nurse announced to me that my temp was over 100 and they would keep me a few hours longer. A few hours turned into overnight. GEEZ At least I got dinner. LOL I was given anti-biotics and Tylenol all night and by morning my temp was finally down. Even though my temp was under 100 It was too late for me to even consider the chemo they had scheduled for today because I was supposed to take some special drug 12 hours and 6 hours prior to the infusion. It would have to wait now till I had been on antibiotics for 7 days. Maybe next Fri??? They released me about 1PM with instructions to apply antibiotic topical ointment to my sutures 2XD beginning the second day. I went home and slept like a baby, dreaming of going to the infusion center for all the rest of my labs. YIPPEE
I’m always apprehensive to remove the dressing for the first time and actually see my surgical ‘souvenirs’, but this didn’t look too shocking at all. Nice clean cut, Very irritating, and somewhat painful due to the bruising, but I soon learned that part of the itching pain was due to the waterproof tape they used. Once I ripped this sucker off the pain quit immediately. GEEZ
So this brings us to Sat night and I am finally showered, shampooed, rested and ready for my Sister to arrive. Soon as she walked into the house she showered me with gifts (always something blue or butterfly related) and I managed to stay awake for a few hours more before I conked out for the night.
It’s now Sunday morning. I’m still tired and lethargic cuz I did not sleep very well due to all the medications, but doing relatively well. It’s nice how my hubby insisted on taking my temp so faithfully and hasn’t let me lift a finger for any of the housework. OK, now to figure out what my sister Deana and I are going to do today to amuse ourselves.
BTW, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and good wishes. It sure is nice coming to cyberspace and seeing all of this kindness and support. Love you all
Hugs, Mariposa
