last colon update! wahoo!
Jul. 22nd, 2004 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickiewell... it's all done. *whew* got to the hospital at 1:30, after a minor freakout where i couldn't get a cab... there's a taxi stand 2 blocks from my place that always has 3 or 4 cabs waiting, but today, when i walked down there, there was no-one. shoot. i waited and looked around, and there was nary a cab to be found. weak from hunger, i struggled to summon up enough calories to power a couple of brain cells to figure out what to do. take the T? would take too long, i only had 1/2 hour to get there. walk 4 blocks in the opposite direction, and try to get a cab on mass ave? wasn't sure i had the energy, and there was no guarantee of a cab there. while i stood there having a small panicked seizure (fuckfuckfuckFUCKfuck), a cab came tooling around the corner, and i practically threw myself in traffic to flag him down. got to the hospital with one minute to spare.
during my trip, i was still having massive cravings for ice water. it was all-consuming. and when i got to the hospital, i swear to god, every single employee was carrying an iced latte or soda or something. everyone was walking around with big cups full of fluids that i wasn't allowed to have. *sob* and then i got in the elevator, and for 8 floors, the doctor standing behind me chewed ice out of a cup. i was listening to these deafening cold, slurpy, ice-crunchy sounds, and i wanted to tackle him for just one cube. but we both made it to our floor intact.
okay, i have to say, the people who work for the BI (beth israel hospital) are the nicest people, EVER. every single nurse and receptionist was an absolute doll. maybe it was becuse they could see the panic rising in my eyes, but regardless, they were really sweet and made the whole thing a lot less stressful. i had to change into like 50 layers of clothes -- scrub pants that tied in the back, then a johnny gown that tied in the back, then a robe over top of it all, and a pair of slipper socks. then they put in my IV, which always flips me out a little bit, so they let me lie down and one of the nurses held my hand while they did it. it wasn't necessary, i was a big girl and wouldn't have fainted or anything... but i was feeling kinda alone being there, and so the hand-holding was a comfort. they got the saline drip started (which did wonders for my woozy feeling, thank god!), and then brought me down the hall to the procedure room.
here, i was handed off to another team of really nice people. (nurse: "hi, i'm kim. i'll be your nurse this afternoon." me: "hi kim. i'll be your hiney this afternoon.") they got me settled on the bed/table thing, put oxygen tubes in my nose, and checked my pulse. then kim sat and chatted with me for a while until my doctor showed up. he said hi to me, told me he'd be ready in a minute, and kim said she'd start with a small dose of medication in my IV. the medication was supposed to mellow me out, like valium, so i could watch the monitor but not be uncomfortable (and i was really looking forward to watching it, it was the one thing i was going to find cool about the whole ordeal). so she put a little bit of stuff in my IV, and i told her it stung a little bit going into my hand.
then i woke up in the recovery room.
that was it... i have no recollection of the procedure itself. either i'm really sensitive to that sedative, or i screamed holy hell and they knocked me out to shut me up. (which is possible... amnesia is a side effect of the medication, so many people watch their procedure on the monitor and then don't remember it later.) i wasn't sore or anything, just a bit groggy from the sedative. my nurse offered me juice (ohYESohYESohYES), and i mentioned something in my hazy state about how i couldn't wait to get home because i'd been craving M&Ms for days. she disappeared for a sec, and then came back and placed something in my hand: 2 dark chocolate hershey's kisses. i almost cried. seriously.
the sedative wore off enough for me to leave after about 1/2 hour.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
davissquarecats came to see me home (i owe you a big dinner, babe), and after a few stops on the T we had to get out and call a cab because i felt a bit barfy. he was amazed at how mellow i was... i just felt kind of stoned. got home and didn't even eat, i laid down for a nap for about an hour to let the rest of the grogginess wear off. then i ordered me some MAJOR chinese food (the chinese place delivers, i'd have had to walk to get indian food like i'd wanted). an hour later, belly filled with rice sticks and crab rangoon, i am very happy. and my fortune, no lie, was this: "all the preparation you've done will finally pay off." i howled at that.
oh... and the swing dancing gods smiled down on me in my misery today, and finally delivered the sexy leopard-print dance shoes i'd ordered 2 months ago. *happy sigh*
the end.
during my trip, i was still having massive cravings for ice water. it was all-consuming. and when i got to the hospital, i swear to god, every single employee was carrying an iced latte or soda or something. everyone was walking around with big cups full of fluids that i wasn't allowed to have. *sob* and then i got in the elevator, and for 8 floors, the doctor standing behind me chewed ice out of a cup. i was listening to these deafening cold, slurpy, ice-crunchy sounds, and i wanted to tackle him for just one cube. but we both made it to our floor intact.
okay, i have to say, the people who work for the BI (beth israel hospital) are the nicest people, EVER. every single nurse and receptionist was an absolute doll. maybe it was becuse they could see the panic rising in my eyes, but regardless, they were really sweet and made the whole thing a lot less stressful. i had to change into like 50 layers of clothes -- scrub pants that tied in the back, then a johnny gown that tied in the back, then a robe over top of it all, and a pair of slipper socks. then they put in my IV, which always flips me out a little bit, so they let me lie down and one of the nurses held my hand while they did it. it wasn't necessary, i was a big girl and wouldn't have fainted or anything... but i was feeling kinda alone being there, and so the hand-holding was a comfort. they got the saline drip started (which did wonders for my woozy feeling, thank god!), and then brought me down the hall to the procedure room.
here, i was handed off to another team of really nice people. (nurse: "hi, i'm kim. i'll be your nurse this afternoon." me: "hi kim. i'll be your hiney this afternoon.") they got me settled on the bed/table thing, put oxygen tubes in my nose, and checked my pulse. then kim sat and chatted with me for a while until my doctor showed up. he said hi to me, told me he'd be ready in a minute, and kim said she'd start with a small dose of medication in my IV. the medication was supposed to mellow me out, like valium, so i could watch the monitor but not be uncomfortable (and i was really looking forward to watching it, it was the one thing i was going to find cool about the whole ordeal). so she put a little bit of stuff in my IV, and i told her it stung a little bit going into my hand.
then i woke up in the recovery room.
that was it... i have no recollection of the procedure itself. either i'm really sensitive to that sedative, or i screamed holy hell and they knocked me out to shut me up. (which is possible... amnesia is a side effect of the medication, so many people watch their procedure on the monitor and then don't remember it later.) i wasn't sore or anything, just a bit groggy from the sedative. my nurse offered me juice (ohYESohYESohYES), and i mentioned something in my hazy state about how i couldn't wait to get home because i'd been craving M&Ms for days. she disappeared for a sec, and then came back and placed something in my hand: 2 dark chocolate hershey's kisses. i almost cried. seriously.
the sedative wore off enough for me to leave after about 1/2 hour.
davissquarecats came to see me home (i owe you a big dinner, babe), and after a few stops on the T we had to get out and call a cab because i felt a bit barfy. he was amazed at how mellow i was... i just felt kind of stoned. got home and didn't even eat, i laid down for a nap for about an hour to let the rest of the grogginess wear off. then i ordered me some MAJOR chinese food (the chinese place delivers, i'd have had to walk to get indian food like i'd wanted). an hour later, belly filled with rice sticks and crab rangoon, i am very happy. and my fortune, no lie, was this: "all the preparation you've done will finally pay off." i howled at that.oh... and the swing dancing gods smiled down on me in my misery today, and finally delivered the sexy leopard-print dance shoes i'd ordered 2 months ago. *happy sigh*
the end.
