another day, another procedure...
So for years now I've been having problems with my digestion. People have speculated all kinds of things from my gallbladder, because of the painfully debilitating you think you're going to die attacks, i've suffered, to ulcers, to acid reflux to stress.
I finally broke down and went to a GI doctor last week after another really bad attack that put me in the ER in September. He suggested I get a HIDA scan to see how my pancreas, liver and gallbladder were functioning. So on Oct. 14, I had to lay on a table much like the MRI table for an hour and an half with this huge thing only and inch from my face. Did I mention I'm clausterphobic...it was awful. So for a little while I watched my insides glow like Christmas trees, but then I slept because it's pretty damn boring being strapped in and unable to move for an hour and a half. I don't know what the results from that test are yet.
Today I got a really complicated sounding test in which I can't even recall the three names it had, but basically it boiled down to them putting a camera down my throat to look at my esophagus, my duodeum, and my stomach. They took me back into a freezing cold room and hooked me up to all kinds of things to watch my vitals. They then used this aerosol can to spray a numbing agent into my throat. It tasted disgusting. They then put this devise in my mouth that would hold it open, and that was actually the freakiest part. Then they told me they were going to administer the drugs that would make me sleep. So there I lay there with a towel they put over my eyes and wait to feel the weightlessness I remembered from my tubal ligation surgery...and it doesn't happen. Suddenly I have a tube going down my throat and I am awake. I gag a little and then just let it happen. The nurses were freaked when they realized I was awake, and totally alert. The whole biopsy of my stomach and camera deal lasted about 5 min. They unhooked me and were very adamant that I should be sleeping, only I was fussing with them because I had been awake, and the least they could have done was let me watch the tv screen and see my insides. We also joked about what a good gag reflex I have, and of course I mentioned how much my husband like that :).
So they wheeled me to recovery and when the nurse came in to check my charts I nearly gave her a heart attack because I spoke to her. She'd expected me to sleep it off for at least thirty minutes. So it took about 5 minutes for the flustered nurses to confer with each other that I was okay and that I didn't need to stay there. So they made me drink some semi-frozen apple juice and I was allowed to dress and be wheeled out, even though I was totally lucid. I actually had people from other departments coming to speak to me because of it. I was like an anomaly I guess..surprise, me, and anomaly. (sp?)
So my mom drove me home, we left the hospital about 12:30. When I got home I made myself a grilled cheese and drank a glass of iced tea. I talked with mom and Gentry for a bit, and by 2ish I thought I'd go take a nap.
Apparently the drugs that had been given to me at 11:30 finally kicked in at 2 because I slept like the dead, even though my mom and Gentry tried to wake me up several times. I was completely oblivious to it.
So now my throat hurts, it's hard to swallow, and it kinda hurts to talk. The doc said I had inflammation in my esophagus and stomach and he prescribed me Reglin and something else I can't remember. I'm hearing the Reglin is wicked crazy and I'm going to call and see if he'll change it to Nexium or something.
So anyway, I go back to see the doc on Nov. 4 and he'll tell me then the results off the tests.
Anyway, I experienced a HOUSE like episode today and I was the star because I didn't fall in the norm :).
I finally broke down and went to a GI doctor last week after another really bad attack that put me in the ER in September. He suggested I get a HIDA scan to see how my pancreas, liver and gallbladder were functioning. So on Oct. 14, I had to lay on a table much like the MRI table for an hour and an half with this huge thing only and inch from my face. Did I mention I'm clausterphobic...it was awful. So for a little while I watched my insides glow like Christmas trees, but then I slept because it's pretty damn boring being strapped in and unable to move for an hour and a half. I don't know what the results from that test are yet.
Today I got a really complicated sounding test in which I can't even recall the three names it had, but basically it boiled down to them putting a camera down my throat to look at my esophagus, my duodeum, and my stomach. They took me back into a freezing cold room and hooked me up to all kinds of things to watch my vitals. They then used this aerosol can to spray a numbing agent into my throat. It tasted disgusting. They then put this devise in my mouth that would hold it open, and that was actually the freakiest part. Then they told me they were going to administer the drugs that would make me sleep. So there I lay there with a towel they put over my eyes and wait to feel the weightlessness I remembered from my tubal ligation surgery...and it doesn't happen. Suddenly I have a tube going down my throat and I am awake. I gag a little and then just let it happen. The nurses were freaked when they realized I was awake, and totally alert. The whole biopsy of my stomach and camera deal lasted about 5 min. They unhooked me and were very adamant that I should be sleeping, only I was fussing with them because I had been awake, and the least they could have done was let me watch the tv screen and see my insides. We also joked about what a good gag reflex I have, and of course I mentioned how much my husband like that :).
So they wheeled me to recovery and when the nurse came in to check my charts I nearly gave her a heart attack because I spoke to her. She'd expected me to sleep it off for at least thirty minutes. So it took about 5 minutes for the flustered nurses to confer with each other that I was okay and that I didn't need to stay there. So they made me drink some semi-frozen apple juice and I was allowed to dress and be wheeled out, even though I was totally lucid. I actually had people from other departments coming to speak to me because of it. I was like an anomaly I guess..surprise, me, and anomaly. (sp?)
So my mom drove me home, we left the hospital about 12:30. When I got home I made myself a grilled cheese and drank a glass of iced tea. I talked with mom and Gentry for a bit, and by 2ish I thought I'd go take a nap.
Apparently the drugs that had been given to me at 11:30 finally kicked in at 2 because I slept like the dead, even though my mom and Gentry tried to wake me up several times. I was completely oblivious to it.
So now my throat hurts, it's hard to swallow, and it kinda hurts to talk. The doc said I had inflammation in my esophagus and stomach and he prescribed me Reglin and something else I can't remember. I'm hearing the Reglin is wicked crazy and I'm going to call and see if he'll change it to Nexium or something.
So anyway, I go back to see the doc on Nov. 4 and he'll tell me then the results off the tests.
Anyway, I experienced a HOUSE like episode today and I was the star because I didn't fall in the norm :).