Home from the hospital

Oct 08, 2010

I'm sittting here sipping my first protein drink, unflavored unjury in crystal light. It's horrible! Other than that, I'm doing pretty well. When they discharged me yesterday they told me that they wanted me to call the doctor if I hadn't started farting by today. No worries there, I'm tootin' like a tug boat! I had 3oz of SF jello for breakfast. I'm not in a hurry to start full liquids. Maybe for lunch, maybe not until tomorrow. The nutritionist told me I can Vitamix a can of soup, that makes the pieces tiny enough to be considered a full liquid. So now I'll have to go buy some Progresso. 
So on Wednesday I needed to get to Kaiser admitting in Fremont by 11:00am. Before I went there, I wanted to stop by member services to get my FMLA and Disability paperwork in. There were not any traffic back ups on the Altamont, so we made it with time to spare.  When I finished up there, we headed over to admitting where I gave them all the same information I'd given them a week ago on the phone, and paid my $450 co-pay. Then up to the surgery waiting room on the 2nd floor. I called my Mom, and told her I'd have my husband call when it was over.  It wasn't long before they called me in, gave me a GREAT gown, huge, no problem hiding the tush in that thing! Showed me where the bathroom was, set up my IV, asked a bunch of questions. Every time I go in, they ask me what meds I'm  taking. Then the next time I go in, they ask me about the same meds I already told them I'm not on.. Don't they record this stuff? They called my husband in at this point, and we proceeded to be ignored for the next two hours. That probably wouldn't have bothered me, except for the extremely solicitious service the guy in the next cubicle was getting. "Can I get you another warm blanket?" he was asked. "Let me go see where you're surgeon is with the case before you".  Turning to his companion, she was asked if she'd like a blanket too. "Sure", she replied. "How about a coke?" she was asked. All the while I sat there with nothing but my anger and feelings of neglect to keep me warm.
Then Dr. Chu stuck her head around the curtain, YaY! She was very informative, reassured my poor husband, then told me Dr. Hahn had counseled against having the gall bladder removed at the same time as the sleeve. She had good reasons, and really my main concern was just getting the sleeve done, so I agreed. She said that since I've had the gall stones for +20 years with no attacks, the chances are I won't have any. And if I want to have it out in the future, it's an out patient quickie surgery. Of course if I end up having an attack, I'm going to regret this!
Pretty soon a couple of anesthesiology people came in, asked me the same old questions, blah blah blah. Pretty soon after they left the surgical nurse came in, talked for a while, I really liked her, then we walked to surgery. Got on the table, adjusted myself, got the mask put on, and woke up in the recovery room. Don't remember much of that. Got taken downstairs to my room, Anthony must have needed a cigarette, he just said he'd called the family, and he'd see me tomorrow. Bye. Relief and irritation on my part. You'd think he could stick around a couple more minutes, but at least I don't have to entertain him. Ice chips and drugs, I'm a happy camper. I thought I'd have to walk before ice chips, but no. Nice nurse. Walked around the hall twice with me. Sorry I forget her name. The night nurse was Vivien. She was nice too. Actually the best of the three. I was up walking every 4 hours. Getting easier every time. Early morning shift change, bye Vivien. I don't know it yet, but I'm really going to miss you! Hello Amor. Maybe I didn't see you for hours at a time because the day shift is so busy? When I asked how many patients you had, you said 4, just like Vivien. Good thing for me I could get up and take the leg compressors off and go to the bathroom by myself. I don't know why you bothered to put a hat in the toilet for me to pee in if you weren't going to check it. Maybe you thought I need something to do, and emptying it for you was a task even I could accomplish. When I called  you for assistance, you were at lunch. Might have been nice if you had checked on me before leaving, but hey, at that point it had already been three hours since I had seen you, what's another two? I guess it must have been a two hour lunch, because it was two hours later when I finally ran into you in the hallway during one of my walks. "Hey", I said, "I haven't seen you in hours!". Pretty funny, I thought, since we were standing right across from the nurses station, with an audience. I went back to my room, and when you still didn't come to check on me, I called again, and wasn't nearly so polite with the pleases, and thank yous this time. I just told you I needed assistance, and you showed up pretty quick. I had you put on my leg compressors, get me another blanket, asked you about my med schedule, since by now it was 3:30 and I hadn't gotten anything since 9:30 am, when I got vicoden, and the self med machine was detached. You told me that my doctor had signed the release papers. "Oh, when?" I asked. "About a half hour ago" you replied. "Thanks for letting me know. I'm ready to get out of here. Let's get this show on the road!" It took a little while for the pharmacist to deliver my meds,  Amor, suddenly helpful, took out all the stuff poking me, got me ice to munch on on my way home, and a couple of belly binders. Called the guy to wheel me out. I had to call her back to come give me my pain meds, finally. Then I got to come home! Yay! Glad to be here. 
I finally finished this awful protein drink, now I'll go get some crystal light to wash away the nasty taste. 

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