Sarah Sedated

I promise it looks worse than it was...

I have always considered myself a fairly healthy person, but looking back at the last couple of years, I may have to reconsider.  I have been having a recurrent pain under my left ribs for the last 6 months or so. At times it gets pretty severe, so I finally went in to the doctor to get it checked out. My doctor recommended an endoscopy (sticking a tube with a camera down my throat to check out my esophagus, stomach and small intestine). Today was the big day. It is a relatively simple procedure, but I had to be sedated and get an IV... neither of which agrees with me very well.

I have notoriously small and difficult veins. It is always a test to see how good the nurse is. This time was no different. I had to be poked twice to get the initial IV and then when they started putting the drugs through it, the IV blew (i.e. created a big lump under my skin). I then had to be poked two additional times to finally get one to work. Note all of the bandaids on my arms in the picture. It was definitely the most painful part of the day.

I am also notoriously bad at coming back from anesthesia. My mother and Jonathon have some good stories from the previous times that I have been put under. When I was 12, I had an appendectomy. My mom said that as I was waking up,  I would randomly sit up and start screaming and then go right back to sleep. I'm sure it was more than a little scary for her. After my other two surgeries (cystectomy and gallbladder removal) I woke up extremely slowly. They had to basically kick me out of the hospital both times because I was taking so long regaining consciousness. And both times I was throwing up as we were leaving. Definitely not my finest moments.

This time, there was no throwing up, but I woke up sobbing hysterically. I had no idea why I was crying and could not stop. I was laughing and crying when I was talking to Jonathon because the whole situation was so strange and amusing. I eventually got control of my emotions and got to go home. They found that I had a mild case of esophagitis (caused from acid reflux) and prescribed me Prevacid. It sounds like a pretty easy solution, so I hope it works.

When I got home I told Jonathon that the moral of the story is "Never have any more anesthesia."

Christian in his witty little voice piped up immediately, "Never Say Never, Mom."

Ha!


On a side note: I told Jonathon that at my first appointment, it was me and 4 other old women (like in their 70's-80's).  I told him that I felt a little out of place. He kind of shrugged it off saying that it must have just been the day. When we walked in for the scope, low and behold, it was 6 old women and me. The waiting room was full of elderly gentlemen waiting to drive their wives home (oh, and Jonathon). Take that... Point Proven!