Friday, July 15, 2011

Hug Your Youth Minister Today

Have you ever read the blog Stuff Christians Like?  It's so funny... and true.  This article was particularly hilarious. 

Treating Youth Ministers Like Silver Medal Ministers

Fortunately we go to a church that is very supportive of the youth ministry, and they are not silver medal ministers, but some of his points had me rolling.  Especially the first one as I picture something like that happening on one of the senior adult trips. 

I'm so thankful to have married a youth minister.  After 3 weeks of youth camps I'm ready to have him home for sure but I know how hard he has been working. 

So hug your youth minister today.  He's been working hard this summer.  Surviving on carbs, zero sleep, soft drinks and supernatural energy that can only come from the Lord. 

Mike is coming home tomorrow- YEA!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Minor Surgery is Only Minor for the Surgeon Performing It

I just wanted to clarify before I continue my story:
My mom took Cason home Friday night and that turned out to the the best thing ever.  Trying to manage a 2 yr. old in and out of a hospital would have been a nightmare. 

I had been craving some alone time- just me and my thoughts.  Sometimes God answers our prayers in the strangest of ways.  I got some alone time- it was attached to an IV and an oxygen monitor in a place that wasn't my home- but I got to be by myself. 

So Saturday morning I wake up waiting for someone to come take blood and tell me how my gallbladder was functioning.

Instead, my nurse comes in with some paperwork.  She tells me I'm about to have surgery and she needs to have me sign off on some forms.  She proceeds to tell me that they might cut an artery, nick another major organ, give me a blood transfusion that might contain AIDS or hepatitis (uh, haven't we fixed that?), and death is possible too.  Please sign here.

I proceed to have a melt down.  As the tears are flowing she looks at me with a questioning look and asks if I will be okay.

Between sobs I say "those side effects are pretty rare, right?"

She lovingly says "No, not really, just last week I had a patient with some major complications during surgery"

Best. Nurse. Ever.

For some reason I sign the forms and continue to sob.  I was not so much worried about the complications, I mean, if the Lord wants to call me home over a gallbladder than he will.  I just felt that I had no idea what was going on.  What happened to the blood test, the gallbladder function test, who was my surgeon, was my gallbladder really that bad?

Next a surgeon came in surprised to find me completely un-done.  I was looking for some re-assurance and questions answered.  When I asked if it was really necessary to have it removed he responded by telling me that medicine is not an exact science and removing the gallbladder was their best guess. 

Great.  Feeling much better now.

He then went on to tell me it was an easy recovery and I would be able to go to a birthday party that night.  No lifestyle changes needed and I wouldn't miss it at all.  He them mentioned the nurse would be in soon with some paperwork.  Ha.  Got that one a little mixed up didn't they.

I started feeling much better, calmed down and was ready to go.  (Too bad it was all lies)

They come and get me for surgery and I am wheeled downstairs.  I don't remember much about pre-op or the surgery (it's a good thing too).  What I do remember is waking up in pain.  Major Pain.  No one mentioned that I would wake up in pain, I thought I would wake up in no pain and the pain would creep in as the anesthesia wore off. 

I was the only person in recovery that day and there were 2 nurses.  Apparently they shoved a tube down my throat and scraped every side on the way down.  I whispered that it hurt.  She gave me some pain medication that didn't help and then proceed to spend the next 10 minutes complaining to the other nurse about how no one bothered to ask them if they wanted Chipolte.  Hello- still in pain over here.

I think I asked for pain meds 3 other times and finally they said they couldn't give me any more... yet I still hurt. 

After I "recovered" I was wheeled back to my room and got some pain meds that actually worked.  I tied to go back to sleep but kept hearing a loud beeping just as I would drift off.  A nurse stuck her head in the door and asked me to take big deep breaths.  Apparently as I drift off I stop breathing enough to make the machine happy.  I finally called the nurse and got hooked up to an oxygen machine so I could finally sleep. 

The rest of the day was pretty simple with the exception of the million trips to the restroom.  It was irritating because I had to unhook- the leg squeezers, the oxygen in my nose, the oxygen monitor, unplug the iv pole and lower the bed each time.  I think Mike thought I was just messing with him each time I asked until I pointed out the huge bags of water they were dumping in me through the IV pole. 

At some point my nurse came in to chat.  We were talking about the surgery and she tells me how important the gallbladdar was (the thing I just had removed) and how I will have to change my diet for the rest of my life.  I asked if there was a brochure or a nutritionist she could send in.  She said she would check.  How can you tell me all that and not give me some help?

By 11:00 that night I was still in a lot of pain.  The oral pain meds were not working and I was so frustrated.  What was the speech earlier about being at a party tonight?  The nurse said I could have another shot of IV pain meds and I got up to go to the bathroom for the hundredth time and had another melt down.  My expectations were completely different that reality.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Update

I'm so sorry I haven't posted about my surgery. The Internet is down here and typing the story on my phone sounds really annoying. So- tomorrow I will fire my Internet company and find someone else!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Something New

I'm sure that you are all waiting to hear about my gallbladder removal but I have one favor first.  Please head over to my NEW EVERYTHING DESIGN web site and follow me.  Tomorrow I will post the rest of the story... If I have more than 5 followers :-)

Thanks!

Friday, July 1, 2011

My Second Trip to the ER


Friday morning I woke up in a little pain but nothing major.  They had given me some pain medication the night before but the Dr. had encouraged me not to take any because pain is a warning signal and if I was in too much pain I needed to go back to the ER. 

I didn't eat much breakfast or lunch that day and I spent all morning trying to get in to see a GI doctor.  None of the GI doctors would see me for weeks and I was so frustrated because they told me at the ER I needed to see someone the next day. 

After lunch I we got Cason down for a nap and I went to lay down as well.  It wasn't five minutes before I jumped up and thought my whole chest was going to explode.  The pain was a million times worse than the day before.  I didn't know whether to call an ambulance or go to the ER- I wasn't sure what would be faster but I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it either way.  Mike drove pretty fast- all while I'm whispering for someone to please help me.  I kept wondering if I passed out would the ambulance make it in time?

When we got to the ER I sort of hobbled in and asked the lady at the front desk to please help me.  I told her I was here last night and I needed help.  She asks my name, social, all the usual info while I almost died on the counter.  Then she asked me to sit and wait until they could get to me.  WAIT?  I sat in the chair and moaned for someone to help me- looking in the door of the ER hoping someone would feel sorry for me.  I just kept asking for someone to help and the other 10 patients in the ER kept looking at me... probably hoping I would just stop talking... or pass out so they could see some real action.

They got me into a room and I began the long wait for pain meds.  Do they not understand that is a top priority?  We started on more bloodwork and another sonogram only to see the same thing they saw yesterday.  Gallstones. 

As a side note, one of our very good friends was also in the ER.  Ben Wertz had come in earlier that day and was probably a few rooms down but we didn't figure all that out until later.

The Dr. came in later and said that they wanted to keep me overnight and they would do another blood test in the morning to determine the function of my gallbladder.  From what they saw, I would probably need to have the gallbladder removed eventually but he was not sure when.  He said the surgeon would visit me in the morning to talk to me more.  I mentioned that tomorrow was Saturday... that doctors don't work on Saturday and therefore I didn't want someone who would rather be playing golf stopping by to tell me about my health.  The doctor looked at me strangely and assured me that the surgeon who would see me would actually be okay with working on a Saturday. 

We began to wait until they could transfer me upstairs.  That took at least an hour.

While I was waiting a nurse came in to take more vitals or something.  She began to tell me not to let them just assign me a surgeon.  To do some research and make sure my surgeon was a good one.  She told me not to just let them do surgery if I didn't really need it.  She said to take ALL my valuables home and not to leave anything in the room. 

I told her thanks... I guess.  I said all I knew about the hospital I learned on Grays Anatomy and so far, this was nothing like that.  She looked at me like I was a little strange.  It wouldn't be the last time during my stay at the hospital. 

This began my experience with interesting nurses. 

We finally headed to my room on the 5th floor (which was very nice by the way) and got hooked up to an IV and an O2 monitor and settled in for the night. 

Michelle came and played Uno with me and Mike went around the corner to visit Ben... who was also on the 5th floor.  It was actually such a blessing to have Ben in the hospital at the same time.  We spent a lot of time visiting and I think it helped calm the nerves of both of us and our families in the unfamiliar hospital experience. 

Tune in tomorrow for my list of reasons never to have surgery. 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Swidget 1.0