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Yesterday was a really bad day and I hope to never have to go through another day like it. I was scheduled to have my upper endoscopy done at Mount Carmel East hospital at 8:15AM. I got there and was told that the procedure was moved to 10:30AM. So, I had several hours to kill and my Mother dropped me off, so I felt that I was stuck there, I couldn't eat or drink, so I decided to sit in the surgical waiting area and I told the volunteers at the front desk that I was sleepy and may fall asleep and they said "no problem" and even brought me a warm blanket. 
I did fall asleep and was woke up by one of the volunteers who informed me that they were ready to begin getting me ready. I felt like I had been run over by a truck and stumbled my way through the preparation. First, I got weighed and then was taken to surgical prep and was told to strip and put on the hospital gown and those silly looking socks with tread on the bottom and I got on the bed and waited. I feel back to sleep and was awakened by my nurse who needed some blood and an EKG. Then I went through a health survey, which I thought was dumb, this hospital had all of my health info on hand, I had spent 3 weeks there in 2010. *UGH* Then my nurse started my IV and she got the IV in on the 1st try "yay". I guess they always start a bag of fluid-seems like a waste to me. I then had to go through all of my medications and the times that I last took them. BTW, my blood glucose was 70, so they didn't fuss about that but did say they consider that to be borderline low. Then I waited to see the anesthesiologist and goodness, she must have just finished medical school but was very professional. I then waited to see my G/I doctor who came in and said "hi" and it probably was relief to both of us knowing that I wouldn't be awake for this procedure. Then a nurse came in and put on a blue hair cap and we were on our way, she told me that they had some medical students in house and was told that there was going to be several students watching. I thought my gosh, there was a lot of people in there. The anesthesiologist took my oxygen cannula off and told me to take several deep breaths of oxygen from the mask and I remember looking at the ceiling and she told me that very soon, my eyelids would be getting heavy, I don't remember anything after that until I heard someone calling my name and was asked if I knew where I was at....finally I was in recovery. I was right by a nurses station and they were all talking but I couldn't wake up. I had no sense of time and kept waking up and then drifting back to sleep. Finally, as I felt like I was waking up, they put an oxygen mask on me because my oxygen saturation was low. I spent 2 hours in recovery and my doctor came in and told me that I did well but my stomach was inflamed and he told me that he took a biopsy to check for h.pylori infection. He told me I would hear in 2 days if I had it but to start taking Mylanta and Pepto Bismol every 4 hours until I heard back on the h. pylori infection. He dilated my esophagus and that went well, but my throat was really sore and it hurt to swallow and he said that was to be expected and told my to stay on a soft diet for 48 hours. I was finally awake and all the monitors were unhooked and the IV was taken out and the nurse helped me to get dressed. I was then wheeled to patient pick up and I was waiting for my Mom to pick me up and my throat was so sore and I hated to swallow because it hurt really bad. I have had this procedure 4 times before and never experienced this kind of pain. Mom picked me up and we went to Walgreeens for the Mylanta and Pepto Bismol and some chloroseptic for my throat. When I got home I changed into my pj's and went looking for something to eat, it had been 24 hours since I ate. All I could find was macaroni and cheese or instant mashed potatoes or cottage cheese. I tried the cottage cheese and it hurt too bad to swallow so I went back to bed and slept until 10PM and I got up to take my medication and Lantus and went back to sleep. I got up this morning and I can barely swallow. I can drink liquid and it doesn't hurt too bad to swallow but I guess things will get better. Woke up to some crazy weather, the trees and power lines are coated with ice, everything has been shut down. It sure does feel good to be home!
I did fall asleep and was woke up by one of the volunteers who informed me that they were ready to begin getting me ready. I felt like I had been run over by a truck and stumbled my way through the preparation. First, I got weighed and then was taken to surgical prep and was told to strip and put on the hospital gown and those silly looking socks with tread on the bottom and I got on the bed and waited. I feel back to sleep and was awakened by my nurse who needed some blood and an EKG. Then I went through a health survey, which I thought was dumb, this hospital had all of my health info on hand, I had spent 3 weeks there in 2010. *UGH* Then my nurse started my IV and she got the IV in on the 1st try "yay". I guess they always start a bag of fluid-seems like a waste to me. I then had to go through all of my medications and the times that I last took them. BTW, my blood glucose was 70, so they didn't fuss about that but did say they consider that to be borderline low. Then I waited to see the anesthesiologist and goodness, she must have just finished medical school but was very professional. I then waited to see my G/I doctor who came in and said "hi" and it probably was relief to both of us knowing that I wouldn't be awake for this procedure. Then a nurse came in and put on a blue hair cap and we were on our way, she told me that they had some medical students in house and was told that there was going to be several students watching. I thought my gosh, there was a lot of people in there. The anesthesiologist took my oxygen cannula off and told me to take several deep breaths of oxygen from the mask and I remember looking at the ceiling and she told me that very soon, my eyelids would be getting heavy, I don't remember anything after that until I heard someone calling my name and was asked if I knew where I was at....finally I was in recovery. I was right by a nurses station and they were all talking but I couldn't wake up. I had no sense of time and kept waking up and then drifting back to sleep. Finally, as I felt like I was waking up, they put an oxygen mask on me because my oxygen saturation was low. I spent 2 hours in recovery and my doctor came in and told me that I did well but my stomach was inflamed and he told me that he took a biopsy to check for h.pylori infection. He told me I would hear in 2 days if I had it but to start taking Mylanta and Pepto Bismol every 4 hours until I heard back on the h. pylori infection. He dilated my esophagus and that went well, but my throat was really sore and it hurt to swallow and he said that was to be expected and told my to stay on a soft diet for 48 hours. I was finally awake and all the monitors were unhooked and the IV was taken out and the nurse helped me to get dressed. I was then wheeled to patient pick up and I was waiting for my Mom to pick me up and my throat was so sore and I hated to swallow because it hurt really bad. I have had this procedure 4 times before and never experienced this kind of pain. Mom picked me up and we went to Walgreeens for the Mylanta and Pepto Bismol and some chloroseptic for my throat. When I got home I changed into my pj's and went looking for something to eat, it had been 24 hours since I ate. All I could find was macaroni and cheese or instant mashed potatoes or cottage cheese. I tried the cottage cheese and it hurt too bad to swallow so I went back to bed and slept until 10PM and I got up to take my medication and Lantus and went back to sleep. I got up this morning and I can barely swallow. I can drink liquid and it doesn't hurt too bad to swallow but I guess things will get better. Woke up to some crazy weather, the trees and power lines are coated with ice, everything has been shut down. It sure does feel good to be home!
