So. Switched docs, scheduled another EGD, and had that a couple weeks ago. This was my third EGD, but my first with biopsies. If you remember, the doc had told me you can't diagnose Barrett's Esophagus without a biopsy, so he wanted to do one of those. I was all for it and was just sure it was going to come back positive.
I've been doing gut research a lot and as you may know you can't get away from the gluten issue when you do gut and food research. The more I read, the more I wondered if that may be part of my problem. So, as I was laying on the bed with a tube in my arm, chatting with the doc, I asked him if he could do a Celiac test, too. They biopsy your duodenum. He hedged at first, saying I didn't have a history, but then said he could do it because I have Gastroparesis. I was sure this test would come back negative.
I'm glad I didn't bet money on it.
The Barrett's test came back negative, which is great news!
The Celiac test came back positive. I need to go on a gluten-free diet.
So. They said I have mild Celiac, which just means my damage in my intestine is minor...for now. Who knows how long I've been symptomatic? Also, I don't know what my overt symptoms are. I don't have gut pain, cramping, or diarrhea. I'm curious what my symptoms will turn out to be, and I'll really only know as they disappear. I'm hoping it will turn out to be the cause of my sleep problems, irritability, depression, and fatigue. I'd love to lose all those.
I pushed the Gluten Free Diet button yesterday. I did some grocery shopping to pick up thing on Sunday. My god, gluten free bread is expensive!! $5-7 for a small loaf. I bought a mix for $4 instead and made my own. As I get better at this, I'll lose the mix and just do it from scratch, but right now I'm happy to rely on the ready-made stuff as much as I can while I learn.
The boards say you can see results in as little as a week. I'll check back in on this next week!
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Thursday, April 29, 2010
General Things
I never know what to name these 'update' posts. 'Update' just seem so boring. 'Exciting Happenings' just isn't true, usually.
So, we leave for Virginia this afternoon. I'll be non communicato until at least Sunday.
In regards to dad and mom and the hospital and the conversation over lunch, nothing new. Dad has an appointment with the EarNoseThroat(knees and toes, knees and toes) doctor today, here's hoping all's well. Also, I found a Yahoo Group for only children of aging parents. I joined. At least I can go there and vent even if I can't do anything about the situation.
Max is having more trouble with his vision. He's taken to walking around the bed at night after we turn off the light, even if he had been laying down and asleep when the light gets turned off. It is very strange. We're not sure why he's doing it. I think that his vision is bad enough that he is totally blind when he goes from light to dark that suddenly, and I think his eyes (well, eye) adjusts more slowly. But, if you can't see anything why wander around? He hasn't fallen, and I don't think he will, but we really can't figure it out. Also, his arthritis is starting to be more apparent. I'm making a vet appointment for him next week.
I have been soooo incredibly stressed lately, and I can't seem to find a way to dissapate it. It just keeps building, layer upon layer. Something explodes at work....then dad goes in the hospital....then someone else has a work explosion....then possible layoffs at Matt's job....then something else, something else, something else. Even good things, like jewelry commisions and gardening just add to the pressure. And it's a full moon so I'm not sleeping as well. I feel like someone shoved grapefruits in my shoulder muscles, everything is so tense.
So, we leave for Virginia this afternoon. I'll be non communicato until at least Sunday.
In regards to dad and mom and the hospital and the conversation over lunch, nothing new. Dad has an appointment with the EarNoseThroat(knees and toes, knees and toes) doctor today, here's hoping all's well. Also, I found a Yahoo Group for only children of aging parents. I joined. At least I can go there and vent even if I can't do anything about the situation.
Max is having more trouble with his vision. He's taken to walking around the bed at night after we turn off the light, even if he had been laying down and asleep when the light gets turned off. It is very strange. We're not sure why he's doing it. I think that his vision is bad enough that he is totally blind when he goes from light to dark that suddenly, and I think his eyes (well, eye) adjusts more slowly. But, if you can't see anything why wander around? He hasn't fallen, and I don't think he will, but we really can't figure it out. Also, his arthritis is starting to be more apparent. I'm making a vet appointment for him next week.
I have been soooo incredibly stressed lately, and I can't seem to find a way to dissapate it. It just keeps building, layer upon layer. Something explodes at work....then dad goes in the hospital....then someone else has a work explosion....then possible layoffs at Matt's job....then something else, something else, something else. Even good things, like jewelry commisions and gardening just add to the pressure. And it's a full moon so I'm not sleeping as well. I feel like someone shoved grapefruits in my shoulder muscles, everything is so tense.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Not-So-Funny Ah-Ha
I had been planning on writing today about some more ‘ah-ha’ moments I’ve had lately, and I probably will sometime in the near future. However, some new things came up recently with my dad’s health and I wanted to give an update.
First, the monitor that he wore for a month….showed nothing. He got the results back about that about a month ago. The diet he’s been working on….he quit. He says he doesn’t need it because he’d been losing weight before he had the heart trouble, anyway (he hadn’t).
Nothing new since then, though.
*sigh*
Had lunch with mom today. She took dad to the ER last night. They did not admit him, they got home around 3am. The story goes like this, according to mom (my thoughts in italics).
Dad thought he was having an anxiety attack. His fingers and legs/feet were tingly. That’s it. He called mom (who had gone to bed) down to sit with him. He had another ‘attack’ while she was there and he asked her to take him to the hospital.
But, I asked mom what his other symptoms were, and she said she didn’t notice *anything* different or strange. He had no visible symptoms before they left. She said he was cold on the 2 minute trip to the hospital (they live 4 blocks away). She said the doctors at the hospital said it didn’t sound like an anxiety attack. At one point she did say the doc thought he may have been hyperventilating. (based on what mom told me he’d had to eat, I think he was having a high blood sugar episode, not an anxiety attack. Since he usually has very LOW blood sugar episodes, it may be that he didn’t recognize the symptoms. Given that he’s been diagnosed with diabetes, it SHOCKS ME they didn’t do a blood test! Also, diabetic neuropathy comes to mind).
The ER was much more concerned with his ear. He’d been having a bit of an ear ache for a few days and, because he’s had some fairly serious ear infections in the past (the kind that killed kids before antibiotics, Mastoiditis), the ER docs were dealing with that. They wound up giving him antibiotics and sending him home on the promise that he would be calling the EarNoseNThroat specialist today.
Supposedly, he was doing that while mom and I were having lunch (Why didn’t he do this first thing in the morning???) Mom thinks that the specialist will get him right in because it is an ‘emergency.’ I told her I thought that if it was an emergency they wouldn’t have let him out of the hospital. Just my opinion. I also asked if they had called the cardiologist. No, of course not. (What? He has tingling in his hands and legs, a known heart problem, and no one thought to call the cardiologist?)
*is shaking her head*
So, past that we got into a very uncomfortable talk about Planning. You know. That talk. That kind of planning. For those things. Things like nursing homes and wills. Medical expenses and other uncomfortable things. Uncomfortable because they have made absolutely no plans, and have limited money set aside, and don’t have wills.
My father thinks he knows it all and is convinced that he’s got everything planned so everything will be fine. (Keep in mind that when mom had her heart attack 8 years ago, he freaked out because ‘he hadn’t planned on this.’ So, he hasn’t learned a thing). They have no wills because he doesn’t think they need them. He has no life insurance (my mother does), because he doesn’t see the need for it. He has money stashed aside and he thinks it will be enough. And my mother just goes along because she doesn’t want to rock the boat (as she said today)….and because she is scared to death of him when he’s mad (as she also said today).
So she nods and makes soothing sounds to me when I talk about this, but just goes and does whatever he tells her to do anyway, because he scares her and it’s easier to keep him happy than to deal with him when he’s mad. He is not physical, no. Never. But he is verbally and emotionally vicious when he’s angry and she just cowers.
(Right about now I need a valium, you know what I mean? Not seriously, no. I’ve never had a valium, but I think it might help temporarily right about now. Or several stiff drinks. Or maybe a valium AND several stiff drinks).
Mom cooed at me that they have enough money for living expenses (and I said no, you don’t. You have enough money for living expenses if nothing bad happens, maybe. If one of you comes down with cancer and decides to fight it, you can kiss that money and the house goodbye. And the money will be gone in months if you have to go into a nursing home).
She said they have the house to fall back on (and I said no, you don’t in this market. You would have if you’d sold at the height of the market, yes, but right now it would take months to sell the house for what it is worth and if you need the money NOW you won’t have it. Besides it won’t go far in a cancer/nursing home situation).
She said that she doesn’t feel old (and I said that isn’t the issue, the issue is making plans while you can. People die whether they’re old or not).
She said that he’s counting on getting a reverse mortgage (and I said that reverse mortgages are something that you get when you haven’t planned and have no other choice. It’s not something to hope for, it’s something to avoid. It’s something that is your last choice). (And in their case it may have to be an option because he screwed them sooo badly with his poor planning, dammit).
She said that our lawyer cousin told her regarding a will that as long as everything is in both names, she has right of survivorship when dad dies (and I told her that she’s assuming a lot. She’s counting on surviving my dad, after which point *she* would get a will and *I* would be covered. If she dies first and leaves dad, then survivorship means nothing).
And I feel like the bad guy. I went to have a nice lunch with my mom and now feel like I bullied her. I mean, we’ve talked about a lot of this before, yes. I didn’t mean to go into it again, and I wound up talking about these things a LOT more than I’d intended to, but when the situation presents itself I think it is good to take advantage of it. So I said a lot of things that had been mulling around for a while. And I feel like I bullied her and put her in a bad position. But…she was already in a bad position (relationship) partially of her own making.
Why do we keep going over this? It’s like a broken record, broken record, broken record. When she was talking about dad and how she ‘can’t’ do anything about what he decides, I told her that she created the situation by letting him bully her early on. She agreed, and said that she wished she’d put her foot down earlier. I told her that he probably wouldn’t have married her if she had. (Those words sound rougher in writing than it actually was at that point in our conversation, btw).
I told mom today, and this is truly how I feel, that I’ve pretty much given up on the whole will-thing. They are not going to get them, I have pretty much accepted this, and I’ve started preparing myself for the battle with the state that will, eventually, ensue. I told her I will try like hell to save the family heirlooms and furniture, etc, but everything else I’ve mentally written off. I’m not waiting for them to die so I can put my inheritance on our mortgage. I don’t think that way (I know some people who do, though). I have known people whose parents died without wills; I don’t want to go through what they went through. And I want family stuff to stay in the family. At least they don’t have gobs of debt that I’d have to worry about. (Yet?)
And I’m an only child and I have no one to be on my team in this situation. Not blood; Matt is there, of course. But it isn’t the same. I can’t help but think that if I had a sibling or two we could, with power of numbers, persuade my parents (father) that he needed to do something differently. I’ve been so estranged from any blood family by distance and intention that I 1) wouldn’t know who to ask for help and 2) wouldn’t know how to ask for help, oh, and 3) it wouldn’t matter if I did because they (dad) would discount the offers and suggestions because he hadn’t thought of them first.
Mostly I’ve liked being an only child, but in this situation it really sucks. Really.
And I’ll be very honest here: I’m so angry at both of them right now I can’t even communicate it. I’m angry at him for being so arrogant that he could in his mind control everything while in actuality run them into the proverbial ground, and so angry at her for just playing dead and letting him. He has left them with very few options if things get bad. Let's hope everything turns out like the fairytale they're hoping for.
First, the monitor that he wore for a month….showed nothing. He got the results back about that about a month ago. The diet he’s been working on….he quit. He says he doesn’t need it because he’d been losing weight before he had the heart trouble, anyway (he hadn’t).
Nothing new since then, though.
*sigh*
Had lunch with mom today. She took dad to the ER last night. They did not admit him, they got home around 3am. The story goes like this, according to mom (my thoughts in italics).
Dad thought he was having an anxiety attack. His fingers and legs/feet were tingly. That’s it. He called mom (who had gone to bed) down to sit with him. He had another ‘attack’ while she was there and he asked her to take him to the hospital.
But, I asked mom what his other symptoms were, and she said she didn’t notice *anything* different or strange. He had no visible symptoms before they left. She said he was cold on the 2 minute trip to the hospital (they live 4 blocks away). She said the doctors at the hospital said it didn’t sound like an anxiety attack. At one point she did say the doc thought he may have been hyperventilating. (based on what mom told me he’d had to eat, I think he was having a high blood sugar episode, not an anxiety attack. Since he usually has very LOW blood sugar episodes, it may be that he didn’t recognize the symptoms. Given that he’s been diagnosed with diabetes, it SHOCKS ME they didn’t do a blood test! Also, diabetic neuropathy comes to mind).
The ER was much more concerned with his ear. He’d been having a bit of an ear ache for a few days and, because he’s had some fairly serious ear infections in the past (the kind that killed kids before antibiotics, Mastoiditis), the ER docs were dealing with that. They wound up giving him antibiotics and sending him home on the promise that he would be calling the EarNoseNThroat specialist today.
Supposedly, he was doing that while mom and I were having lunch (Why didn’t he do this first thing in the morning???) Mom thinks that the specialist will get him right in because it is an ‘emergency.’ I told her I thought that if it was an emergency they wouldn’t have let him out of the hospital. Just my opinion. I also asked if they had called the cardiologist. No, of course not. (What? He has tingling in his hands and legs, a known heart problem, and no one thought to call the cardiologist?)
*is shaking her head*
So, past that we got into a very uncomfortable talk about Planning. You know. That talk. That kind of planning. For those things. Things like nursing homes and wills. Medical expenses and other uncomfortable things. Uncomfortable because they have made absolutely no plans, and have limited money set aside, and don’t have wills.
My father thinks he knows it all and is convinced that he’s got everything planned so everything will be fine. (Keep in mind that when mom had her heart attack 8 years ago, he freaked out because ‘he hadn’t planned on this.’ So, he hasn’t learned a thing). They have no wills because he doesn’t think they need them. He has no life insurance (my mother does), because he doesn’t see the need for it. He has money stashed aside and he thinks it will be enough. And my mother just goes along because she doesn’t want to rock the boat (as she said today)….and because she is scared to death of him when he’s mad (as she also said today).
So she nods and makes soothing sounds to me when I talk about this, but just goes and does whatever he tells her to do anyway, because he scares her and it’s easier to keep him happy than to deal with him when he’s mad. He is not physical, no. Never. But he is verbally and emotionally vicious when he’s angry and she just cowers.
(Right about now I need a valium, you know what I mean? Not seriously, no. I’ve never had a valium, but I think it might help temporarily right about now. Or several stiff drinks. Or maybe a valium AND several stiff drinks).
Mom cooed at me that they have enough money for living expenses (and I said no, you don’t. You have enough money for living expenses if nothing bad happens, maybe. If one of you comes down with cancer and decides to fight it, you can kiss that money and the house goodbye. And the money will be gone in months if you have to go into a nursing home).
She said they have the house to fall back on (and I said no, you don’t in this market. You would have if you’d sold at the height of the market, yes, but right now it would take months to sell the house for what it is worth and if you need the money NOW you won’t have it. Besides it won’t go far in a cancer/nursing home situation).
She said that she doesn’t feel old (and I said that isn’t the issue, the issue is making plans while you can. People die whether they’re old or not).
She said that he’s counting on getting a reverse mortgage (and I said that reverse mortgages are something that you get when you haven’t planned and have no other choice. It’s not something to hope for, it’s something to avoid. It’s something that is your last choice). (And in their case it may have to be an option because he screwed them sooo badly with his poor planning, dammit).
She said that our lawyer cousin told her regarding a will that as long as everything is in both names, she has right of survivorship when dad dies (and I told her that she’s assuming a lot. She’s counting on surviving my dad, after which point *she* would get a will and *I* would be covered. If she dies first and leaves dad, then survivorship means nothing).
And I feel like the bad guy. I went to have a nice lunch with my mom and now feel like I bullied her. I mean, we’ve talked about a lot of this before, yes. I didn’t mean to go into it again, and I wound up talking about these things a LOT more than I’d intended to, but when the situation presents itself I think it is good to take advantage of it. So I said a lot of things that had been mulling around for a while. And I feel like I bullied her and put her in a bad position. But…she was already in a bad position (relationship) partially of her own making.
Why do we keep going over this? It’s like a broken record, broken record, broken record. When she was talking about dad and how she ‘can’t’ do anything about what he decides, I told her that she created the situation by letting him bully her early on. She agreed, and said that she wished she’d put her foot down earlier. I told her that he probably wouldn’t have married her if she had. (Those words sound rougher in writing than it actually was at that point in our conversation, btw).
I told mom today, and this is truly how I feel, that I’ve pretty much given up on the whole will-thing. They are not going to get them, I have pretty much accepted this, and I’ve started preparing myself for the battle with the state that will, eventually, ensue. I told her I will try like hell to save the family heirlooms and furniture, etc, but everything else I’ve mentally written off. I’m not waiting for them to die so I can put my inheritance on our mortgage. I don’t think that way (I know some people who do, though). I have known people whose parents died without wills; I don’t want to go through what they went through. And I want family stuff to stay in the family. At least they don’t have gobs of debt that I’d have to worry about. (Yet?)
And I’m an only child and I have no one to be on my team in this situation. Not blood; Matt is there, of course. But it isn’t the same. I can’t help but think that if I had a sibling or two we could, with power of numbers, persuade my parents (father) that he needed to do something differently. I’ve been so estranged from any blood family by distance and intention that I 1) wouldn’t know who to ask for help and 2) wouldn’t know how to ask for help, oh, and 3) it wouldn’t matter if I did because they (dad) would discount the offers and suggestions because he hadn’t thought of them first.
Mostly I’ve liked being an only child, but in this situation it really sucks. Really.
And I’ll be very honest here: I’m so angry at both of them right now I can’t even communicate it. I’m angry at him for being so arrogant that he could in his mind control everything while in actuality run them into the proverbial ground, and so angry at her for just playing dead and letting him. He has left them with very few options if things get bad. Let's hope everything turns out like the fairytale they're hoping for.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Adventures in Pain Management
Some of you closer to me know I had my last wisdom tooth out last Friday, Labor Day weekend. It’s been a bit of an adventure, I’ll try to keep it brief.
Extraction went normally….I guess. I never did see the doctor. Except for the fact that I had a hole in my jaw where a tooth used to be, I’d never guess anything happened. Very little pain over the weekend. NO visible swelling. I’m shocked, it was impacted and I was expecting the worst.
They prescribed Vicodin for me. I’ve never taken it, I’ve heard gloriously wonderful stories about it, though. My neighbor has back problems and when she takes hers, she gets hyper and has to clean the house. The pharmacist said it can cause euphoria. Sounds good to me. I took it at noon, along with the 3 ibuprofen they said I should also take every 6 hours.
Nausea. It gave me the worst nausea I’ve ever had. It was a friendly nausea, the kind that cuddles up on your tummy and just stays there forever and does nothing but get worse. And it hit almost at the 6-hour mark when I should have taken another dose. I decided I wasn’t going to take another, pain be damned. I’d rely on the ibuprofen.
Good idea, the ibuprofen worked wonders for me. Saturday and Sunday went by with little pain. Sunday we actually went to Ikea and Wegman’s in Baltimore for a little jaunt.
Then on Monday, the pain started getting worse in the afternoon. I was getting a goodly amount of ‘breakthrough’ pain at the 5-hour mark of my ibuprofen regimen.
Tuesday, a lot more. I called the dentist because I knew I shouldn’t be having more pain at that point. They said yeah, come on in.
Dry socket. Joy. So I went in and they inserted a special medicated gauze into the socket. Not painful at all, it actually has a numbing agent. That was Tuesday.
This morning, I went back and had the dressing replaced.
This evening, I apparently swallowed the dressing with dinner because it just ain’t there anymore.
I’ll call tomorrow morning. I’m hoping I don’t have any more pain, maybe they won’t need to see me again. Either way, I go back on Friday for a standard follow-up.
Extraction went normally….I guess. I never did see the doctor. Except for the fact that I had a hole in my jaw where a tooth used to be, I’d never guess anything happened. Very little pain over the weekend. NO visible swelling. I’m shocked, it was impacted and I was expecting the worst.
They prescribed Vicodin for me. I’ve never taken it, I’ve heard gloriously wonderful stories about it, though. My neighbor has back problems and when she takes hers, she gets hyper and has to clean the house. The pharmacist said it can cause euphoria. Sounds good to me. I took it at noon, along with the 3 ibuprofen they said I should also take every 6 hours.
Nausea. It gave me the worst nausea I’ve ever had. It was a friendly nausea, the kind that cuddles up on your tummy and just stays there forever and does nothing but get worse. And it hit almost at the 6-hour mark when I should have taken another dose. I decided I wasn’t going to take another, pain be damned. I’d rely on the ibuprofen.
Good idea, the ibuprofen worked wonders for me. Saturday and Sunday went by with little pain. Sunday we actually went to Ikea and Wegman’s in Baltimore for a little jaunt.
Then on Monday, the pain started getting worse in the afternoon. I was getting a goodly amount of ‘breakthrough’ pain at the 5-hour mark of my ibuprofen regimen.
Tuesday, a lot more. I called the dentist because I knew I shouldn’t be having more pain at that point. They said yeah, come on in.
Dry socket. Joy. So I went in and they inserted a special medicated gauze into the socket. Not painful at all, it actually has a numbing agent. That was Tuesday.
This morning, I went back and had the dressing replaced.
This evening, I apparently swallowed the dressing with dinner because it just ain’t there anymore.
I’ll call tomorrow morning. I’m hoping I don’t have any more pain, maybe they won’t need to see me again. Either way, I go back on Friday for a standard follow-up.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
*sigh*
I'm pretty sure I cracked a tooth.Calling the dentist tomorrow; stay tuned.
Update: they can't fit me in until Thursday, so I'm hitting up the Advil pretty good. Didn't hurt at all this morning, though. They did say I may have bruised a tooth ligament. Teeth have ligaments?
Second Update: Pain went away on Monday during lunch. I have no idea what is going on. The gum is still a little tender, like I cut it. I'm still going to the dentist, though, because I want to know for sure what the H is going on.
Final (?) Update: We're going with inflamed tooth ligament, so that's good. No unpleasent procedures.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Needle Me
So, my little hint in my last post, did anyone guess? Did anyone bother? HMMMM!!!!????? Well, let me fill you in, then.I had my first Acupuncture treatment.
Yes! I got stuck with needles! On purpose! And it was everything I thought it could be!
I specifically went in for two things: joint pain and gallbladder issues. We had a consultation and talked about specifics.
Then he asked to look at my tongue. This is a traditional Chinese Medicine practice. Someone who has been trained can tell everything they need to know about the general state of your health and diet. He told me I was very healthy and generally eat well, lots of veggies. And that is true, I haven’t had a cold in 3 years and do eat a lot of veggies.
He told me it sounded as though my yang was low (as in Yin and Yang), and he thought he could help me out by getting my energy to start to flow properly. He said (and I’d read elsewhere) that pain is caused by blockages in your energy lines, and getting the blockages removed helps get rid of the pain.
I did not have to put on a gown, thank goodness. He had me lay face-up on a table with my pants pulled up over my knees. He lifted up my shirt to palpate my gallbladder area and this is where he put in the first needle.
Now I was told by many people and read first hand reports by many people that say it really doesn’t hurt. So imagine my surprise when it HURT! Badly! Really hurt! Yeowch! That first one was the worst, I believe it had more to do with location than anything. The rest only stung a bit.
He put 3-4 needles in each foot, 1-2 around my left knee, one in my ear, 2-3 in each hand, 2 in my tummy.
After he had all the needles in he adjusted them, meaning twisting them and pushing them in further until they hit the spot they were supposed to be hitting. This didn’t hurt, per se, but it didn’t tickle either. Have you ever had a Charlie horse? This felt like the muscle twisting like a Charlie horse, but before the pain set in. A very strange sensation, but not painful.
What was most interesting is what I noticed during the time he was still inserting the needles. I had a rush of warmth start to run all along my arms and legs and then through the rest of my body. It was really intense! It was not a ‘I’m going to start sweating’ kind of heat, but very obvious and noticeable.
No obvious changes yet, this is something that accumulates over time. It will be interesting to see what happens, and I’m looking forward to my next visit. I may increase the time to 3-weeks, just because of money, but I’m not sure yet.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Implanon: the Arm Preservative
Well, I got my new arm-stick yesterday. I'm still kinda freaked out a little, it is poking at me and itchy. I actually called the doctor this morning to tell them about it and ask what's going on, but they said with the amount of swelling that I have (normal) that I need to wait at least a week to see if it goes down. The way he explained it sounds perfectly fine, but it still is freaking me out.
For the ones of two readers that did not already hear the story:
I went in yesterday morning for my 10:30 appointment, they took me in right on time. Carrie, one of the Physicians Assistants (PA) was to do the deed. They made me take off my shirt and put on a gown. Carrie gave me a numbing shot while the nurse (?) kept watch over me. They gave it a minute to numb up, then they started the insertion. I DID NOT watch, I kept my mind on breathing because if I didn't I would forget and pass out. (this is common with people getting tattoos, too. When I got mine, the tattoo artist said she had people pass out all the time: not because of pain, but because they forgot to breath).
Carrie told me my skin was very tough. Great. They actually take the applicator and use it to push through the skin and make a channel. They then insert the stick by twisting the applicator, and the stick itself is supposed to 'catch' and stay put. Note my use of the words 'supposed to.' Yes, you heard right: it didn't stay put.
So she did it again (after asking me if I minded. Are you kidding?) And it still didn't stay put. She sent the nurse for Dr. Oh, who was the only MD there who had done these as well. And they looked at the applicator, and then he tried. And it STILL didn't stay put (so now we are 0/3).
Everyone kept telling me I was a trooper. I couldn't feel anything. They asked if they could try once more and I said sure, this is getting to be old hat. Laughs all around. Ha ha. No, wait. Ha ha ha.
They tried again and it still didn't take. They sent the nurse for another one while they fiddled and played with the applicator, which they thought was defective. They tried with the second one and THAT ONE DIDN'T TAKE EITHER. Can you believe this? Still can't feel anything.
They tried one more time with the 2nd applicator and it finally took. The Doc felt for the stick, and Carrie felt for the stick and they looked at each other and the doc said.....
Wait for it.....
"They're both in there."
Yes. Somewhere along the line the first one DID deploy and then the 2nd one deployed and omigod I have *2* arm sticks in my arm. The doc did get one out, so I only have one now. But it is making itself known and is pokey and itchy and slightly painful.
So there's my arm stick story. I'm really hoping it is only swelling causing it to push like that, I really don't want to go and get it out and get another one, because they can't adjust it once it's out of the applicator. I also have a lot of bruising, but considering what i went through I guess that's normal.
I'm actually dealing better with this than most women would, I think. I'm not really freaking out, but I am a bit worried. And I think many women would be freaking out from yesterday's 2/6 record.
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