Skip to main content

The best laid plans

Got to the hospital around 6:30 AM, and Edie was taken upstairs to the surgery area shortly there after. I sat patiently in the waiting area for about an hour, when someone called me in.

WOW! This was great I thought. The procedure must be over already. I soon learned that was not to be the case. They hadn't even started yet, and she wasn't schedule for the insertion of the Hickman Line for another hour at 8:30 AM (2 hours after arriving at the hospital).

Oh well, what can you do? I should have expected it anyways. At least it gave time for the surgeon and anesthesiologist to come in, and explain the procedure to Edie and me.

According to the doctors, the procedure would take about 15 minutes, followed by 45 minutes to an hour in the recovery room, and another 30 minutes or so in the post recovery area.

Well, as I soon discovered, I either misunderstood the doctors, or they were describing a best case scenario, and this did not turn out to be a best case.

It seems Edie had a reaction to the one of the anesthesia drugs, and the surgery ended up lasting an hour and a half. So it wasn't until around 11:15 AM (2.5 hours after the surgery started) that I was finally allowed in to the post recovery area to visit.

At that point Edie didn't look too good. She was a little out of sorts from the drugs, could barely talk, and was feeling some discomfort in her back, neck and mouth.

Fortunately though, after about another hour, the drugs wore off, most of the discomfort went away, and she was allowed to leave around 12:30 PM (6 hours after arriving at the hospital).

So now, Edie is resting comfortably in her lounge chair, and I am able to relax somewhat as well. I say somewhat, because this is only the beginning. Tthere is still a lot more to come.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My concerns reaffirmed today

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bowling: A metaphor on life [sorta]

Over the past 15+ years the game of bowling has changed dramatically. Not only has the equipment changed, making it easier for bowlers of all ages and physical conditions to participate, and score well, but there have even been major advances to how the lanes are prepared for the start of bowling. No longer is it just heavy oil, light oil, long oil, short oil, or no oil, with the latest equipment, the amount of oil can be varied from front to back and side to side, producing a myriad of patterns designed to make the game more interesting, more challenging and as you might surmise, more frustrating. No longer does the "one ball fits all" approach work any more either. In order to navigate all the differing possible lane conditions, you need to have a varied selection of bowling balls. Most pros will tell you the average bowler needs 3 balls, plus a ball for spares, but to be an above average bowler you'll need at least 6 balls, with many possessing more than that. But just...
1 comment
Read more

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...
Post a Comment
Read more