Story Time
About 10pm Wednesday night, Durval came by the hotel and walked me to the hospital, which is only 2 blocks away. It was late enough, we came in through the employee entrance, met with someone who entered my information into the computer. I already had a room reserved, so he walked me up there.
The anesthesiologist came by who spoke *some* English, so Durval stayed and translated. I explained I do very well on anesthesia, never had a problem, could care less what he used - whatever he felt was best. Also mentioned I have allergies to Codeine and sulpha drugs, to be sure that they didn't give me either before I was coherent. He seemed satisfied with that, and left.
Durval tucked me in, held my hand a bit, and said everything would be okay. Then startled the hell out of me as he added, "I'll be back to sleep with you later. Muy later." REEEEEE-aaally?!?!???? Is that *included* in the surgery, or do I pay extra for that?
Durval's English is good, but not perfect, so I knew what he really meant (there is a couch in my room). And true to his word, he returned to my room about 5am to nap on my couch until it was time to take me to surgery.
What little else I remember of that day is in bits & pieces. In the OR, one of the nurses kept making a hand over hand motion, which looked to me like "roll over".....but everytime I patted the surgery table next to me, she shook her head no. The anesthesiologist came in and started my IV, and said he was going to do general and an epidural. I'd never had an epidural before. I don't remember anything more after that until the recovery room.
I spent quite a bit of time in recovery (I was supposed to be back in my room about 11 or so, and didn't get back there til 12:45), and most of that time I spent throwing up some type of clear gel-like substance - phlegm? saliva? anesthesia? No idea. Finally it occurred to someone to give me something for nausea, but not until I had filled about 12 washcloths with the stuff.
I already had my binder on, so they had apparently put that on, immediately after surgery. Thank god. It hurt enough to throw up, but at least I had something protecting my incision. The next thing I remember was seeing Cheryl in the chair in my room. I waved, and passed out again.
As the neighborhood is a little iffy, and Cheryl was sleeping at the hotel, she always left before dark fell. Durval returned again that night, and this time, spent ALL night sleeping in my room with me. Thank god! The one issue I had was that the pain medication thru the IV wasn't strong enough, and Durval has enough pull at the hospital, that people jump when he speaks.
Over the course of the first 24 hours, I think I got four morphine shots which helped immensely. He also helped me turn from side to side, and took care of everything I needed. Both Cheryl and I agreed later it was better to have him there as he spoke Portugese, and it would have taken MUCH longer to get the right pain medication.
This was proven out on several occasions as I asked for stronger pain drugs and they delayed stating it had to be approved by the doctor (but didn't seem to go to any effort to GET it approved****il I called Durval. Then boom - the shots miraculously appeared. I really believe the shots helped me recover so much faster as I was able to be more mobile early on.
Other than that, the nursing staff was wonderful. They always responded quickly when I rang, and played charades with me as I explained in pidgeon English and/or Portugese what I wanted. (Sounds like....has two syllables....rhymes with...)
By Friday morning, I could get out of bed by myself, but couldn't get BACK in bed without help. I was still sleeping a LOT. In fact, Cheryl was there once, and I dozed off for a mere 4-6 hours, and she LEFT. Can you imagine??
Oh, and first thing in the morning, I needed to pee. I had five nurses there trying to tell me that I needed to do physical therapy first, and THEN I could go to the bathroom. WHAT???? NO!!!!! I finally got thru to them that I needed the
- they thought I wanted a shower.
The language barrier proved to be an obstacle on more than one occasion, but I had memorized Durval's cell number and called him whenever I felt I wasn't getting through to them. They never seemed to take issue with me calling on Durval (and neither did he), so I used that as a lifeline when needed.
Saturday morning, my favorite nurse (Hennica??) came in for my morning shower and dressing change. Looking at my incision, she said "Three day??" with a look of wonder on her face. No, I corrected her - TWO days. TWO DAYS?????
She was very impressed.
By Saturday, the IV pain medication was enough, and I didn't need any more pain shots. That afternoon, I passed "the test" - passing gas. I later passed all three states of matter (gaseous, liquid and solid), in an explosive event that nearly landed my photo on the post office wall for attempting to kill the porcelian god.
Sunday morning, they walked me down to radiology for the leak test, only to get rejected because no one there spoke English. Once again, Durval to the rescue. After hearing the instructions (drink this liquid, but only put it in your mouth. Don't swallow until we tell you. Breathe. Don't breathe.), I could see why they didn't want to pantomime it. But I was annoyed as I could clearly see my name and room number circled on the white board in front of them. They had to have known I was an American. Why weren't they prepared? They wanted to put me off until the afternoon, but again I objected. This was the last hurdle between me and food.......we're going to cross this puppy NOW, dammit. And sure enough, with Durval there, we did it about 15 minutes later.
They brought me my first meal in Corrina's room (she's on the Yahoo Dr M board), which was right next door, and we sat there and chatted while we ate. Her surgery was Tuesday, only 2 days before mine, and she lives in Seattle, so we had a lot to chat about. Halfway through, I needed to use the
, so out of politeness, I returned to my room to use the bathroom. I'm glad I did, as Cheryl was there, and I hadn't realized it. We went back and chatted with Corrina and her mom for a few minutes, but then returned to the room to talk. I think it was my first day of real mental coherency, and it was good to have company.
Durval had said I could leave the hospital on Sunday if I wanted, but I really wanted to see how food sat before I did, so Dr M and I agreed that I would stay until Monday morning. Besides which, the weather on Sunday was stormy and Monday was beautiful. Can you imagine explaining THAT to an insurance company as a reason for staying over?
Sunday night, my IV stopped working - not surprising, considering how much stuff had been put through it, but all I was using it for now was ONE drip bag of pain medication. I saw no reason to open another vein for only another 12 hours (especially since I'm on anti-coagulants) when they could give me pain shots like they did before.
Basically, the word I got was "hmmmm....(something in Portugese)". Assuming they didn't understand me, I pulled the phone onto the bed and called my
Durval. He then translated for the nurse, who called Dr M and got it okayed to remove the IV and give me everything by shot or by mouth. Pain medication began arriving in small plastic cups to drink. Works for me.
Other points of interest:
Durval is a complete sweetheart, and I'm fairly certain he's gay. If I wasn't before, his "pole-dance" and singing "I'm a Barbie girl", and two verses of "Material Girl" would have sealed that. Now I'm treated daily to a performance, including one up against the CT plate. Hilarious.
I've had a brother and mother with cancer, a father who had triple bypass surgery, and a grandmother who spent 23 years in a nursing home, plus I'm an out patient of the Shriner's Hospital, so I'm VERY familiar with hospitals and the medical community.....and I must say, I have never seen a hospital with granite and 2 ply toilet paper in the bathroom, nor with SO many nurses available.
I never did get to see the two hottie male physical therapists. Both of mine were women. The only person I didn't care for was one of them - she was a little abrupt, and also took a cell call while walking me down the hall - so instead of holding the back of my gown closed, she was using it to talk to someone. I wasn't ready for my first strip show, so was not pleased at that - but maybe she was having an off day.
While I did have to stay on them about certain things, I've had to do that in American hospitals too. I remember once my brother was re-operated on about midnight, and they removed his TENS unit, which is an electric pain reliever. They didn't have any unused tips, so didn't reinstall it - but because he had not been prescribed any pain relievers (since he had a TENS), they wouldn't give him any of those either. I raised holy hell until they woke up the hospital administrator (the only person with a key to the cabinet) to get his TENS reinstalled.
Cheryl and I are planning little excursions every day, to make sure that I get in some walking and out of the hotel. Today's was to the post office (no Wanted Poster *whew*), and the grocery store, which were directly across the street. I almost got mowed down by a bus which didn't even TRY to slow down. I found out pedestrians do not have the right of way,and they don't care.
Ana the taxi driver is another sweetheart. She knew Durval in the US before he worked for Dr M, but didn't hook up with the Dr M crowd through him. She randomly picked up a fare at a mall a couple of years ago who explained they were in town for surgery, and she discovered that his clients could use an English speaking cab driver, so the front desk here knows who she is. I had been wondering how to contact her, and they were like "Oh ANA! Yes, we'll call her for you. In a city of a million people, you know who I'm talking about? 'But of course!'
Sunday morning was funny - the church bells began to go off signaling the start of service. Then a loud speaker came on, and someone began playing "Might as well be walking on the sun". Thus began a 'fight' between the Brazilian faithful and a bicycle race competing for our eardrums for about an hour. Each would get louder and louder until the Word of God echoed throughout the streets, accompanied by rock music. Very funny!
Other points of beauty - a lovely green, red & bluish bird perched on our deck. I got a photo of it up close. Random people spontaneously sing - in the halls, on the street, in the mall. Wherever.
And (hand over heart), there are some F****** gorgeous men in this country.....and thank whatever god you pray to, so many of them choose to walk past our hotel. *swoon*
Everyone says I'm doing very well - more agile, better healing, etc, than should be expected this early out. However, there's a difference between doing really well post-op and just plain doing really well. I'm looking forward to the latter.
--BT






My fellow Floridian,
Glad to hear your doing well. It's a good thing you have Durval to get through all the translation issues. Make sure you keep that binder on as much as possible. It really does help. Try to enjoy the rest of your stay there and keep watching for the hot men. Have a safe trip back and stay well.
BT, so glad you're doing great and enjoying the scenery (hee hee). It's always fascinating to hear people's Brazil stories, and you told yours so well.
Just think--it'll get even better with each day. Hope the weather stays on the sunny side, as I know it's been chilly and rainy lately.
We'll probably fly past each other next week...
Thanks again for the stories!
Alyce
(deactivated member)
on 9/19/05 11:54 pm
on 9/19/05 11:54 pm
Oh my goodness BT you always make me laugh. Please bring over some hot Latin men for us here on the DS board, ok? I promise we'll take good care of them.
(still chuckling about the material girl...hehehe)
Glad all is well!!!
Sharon (now thinking about hot men....sigh)
LOL!!! You are TOO funny girl! They might not have any "most wanted" posters there in Curitiba...But they're EVERYWHERE here! LOL!!! You sound like you are doing WONDERFULLY!!! I am sooo happy for you! If you want to see a major hottie...You NEED to have the front desk call CHRIS...He's a hottie AND he smells soooo good! Have him take you to the souviner shop. It's a NEAT little store with a lot of cool things in it! I think it's something like 7 de Septembro. It's by the University there. It is soooo cool.
Yes, Durval is gay...LOL!! I didn't get a pole dance...What kinda crap is that! LOL! He does have a son tho...So, he's not always been gay. If you ask him (which I know you won't...We just found this out...Not by asking him either) he will tell you that he loves everyone. He is truly a GODSEND and a wonderful, sweet, and kind man.
I'm glad that you are getting better so fast. Don't forget to get your breakfast at the hotel every morning before 10:30am...You can take stuff from there up to your room too...All of us Americans that were there did...It was such a GREAT help. If you get a little nauseaus...Try eating a small piece of their really dark brown bread. It helps a lot! You can eat eggs too.
Please tell Cheryl THANK YOU for doing such a good job of keeping us updated while you were in the hospital. She is a true friend and that's awesome!
Keep walk, walk, walking...
Big (soft) Hugs,
~Darcy
-47 pounds in 2 months!!!
What an amazing adventure you had! Thanks for sharing! I love how you write!
"I later passed all three states of matter (gaseous, liquid and solid), in an explosive event that nearly landed my photo on the post office wall for attempting to kill the porcelian god. "
OK, this had me laughing so hard, I was crying!!!!
Welcome home!
~Leslie
BT,
I just stopped in a for a break moment in a very busy day... or so I thought! I had to stay to read your whole story - I'm almost jealous I'm not going to Brazil! (Almost, but not quite - I couldn't deal with the long plane ride.) You've got the hard part behind you now, so just rest, relax and enjoy the scenery (and I don't mean just the men!). You're doing so well already that you'll be back to yourself before you know it.
Hi to Cheryl!
Beth
