Just for reference I will not say exactly what procedure I had done, as I would like very much to maintain some sort of privacy as much as I can. 🙂 As I have mentioned I have been having chronic digestive issues. At one point I thought I was allergic to eggs, not that I am not, but I was just getting sick after eating eggs. But now I get sick with eating anything and everything. This has gone for 2 plus years, and has only gotten worse over that time. When hubby and I saw our endocrinologist doctor, he wanted me to get it looked into right away. So as soon as I could I called to make an appointment with a GI doctor. The one that hubby had previously seen, the same that he had his upper GI with too.

On Wednesday October 9th, very early in the morning, well 7:45, I saw the GI Physician Assistant. She was also concerned with the time period of how long I had been getting sick. She did some tests in the office, and then sent those off to the lab. She also ordered other blood tests. But then she also wanted for me to schedule as soon as possible a procedure. When we went out to the scheduler, the earliest I could get in was Monday October 14th. Really? That soon…Uh…not something I really wanted to do, but I did want to get to the bottom of being sick so much.

So after having such a busy day on Saturday, hubby and I stayed home from church. We slept late, and then had a nice breakfast right before my cut off time. From 10am on Sunday, I was only allowed liquids. This meant Jell-O, broths, sodas, juice, and water. Anything that light could go through, I could have.

I wasn’t hungry at first, but by the time lunch time came around I was starving. We decided to go to hubby’s dad house to hang with family. And although they didn’t have a full lunch they had snacks. I had Jell-O, orange and lime Jell-O. We got home at 6, and hubby fixed me some chicken broth, which was delicious because before this point everything was sugar free. And I was starting to feel horrible without anything to eat.

At 7pm is when the real fun began. From the pharmacy we picked up a mix that you combined with water. You were to drink this mixture with water, lots of water. I drank 3 cups, 16 oz. I will just say from this point on, I spent alot of time in the bathroom. There was no point doing anything else, as I didn’t feel good because of drinking that mixture, and just because I needed to camp out in the bathroom. I won’t get more graphic than that. This went on for several hours. The wonderful thing is that hubby was right there with me the whole time, getting more to drink, and just holding my hand if needed. We were having our little party in the potty room…LOL

At some point I felt okay to go to bed. I don’t think we got to bed until after midnight. And sleep came quick, but not for long. Because of all the liquid I had drank, wow! Just another reason to be in the bathroom. I woke up around 4 and could not go back to sleep. It was hard to drink enough to stay ahead of the dehydration.

On Monday October 14th, after a fit full night of sleep, hurting stomach, with many trips to the bathroom, I subjected myself to more torture. Yes, really I did. I needed to get some blood work done. So at 7:30am, my FIL pick up hubby and I and we went to our local Lab.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, I could finally be done with that torture. The lab tech was not gentle on this trip to the lab, not sure if she left a bruise or not.

Back home, I quickly drank more broth and more Jell-O. By this time I was sick of both.

At 9am, another round of fun begins just like the night before. Three 16oz cups of liquid later, I was once again in the bathroom. This time it did not take as long, so the party was short. More by this time I was feeling weak and just overall drained.

Hubby encouraged as much liquids as he could get into me, but I was floating away. Hubby had also had planned on working from home, but that did not happen, as it was hard to do anything, much less be out of the bathroom for a minute or two, or even take care of myself.

At noon, I could no longer have anything by mouth. I won’t need or desire to eat lime Jell-O for another hundred years again. At 12:45, after packing up some of my personal items, we were off to the testing center.

We arrived at 1:20pm, after a small detour. We didn’t have to wait in the waiting room long, before I was being called back by a nurse.

Once I was taken back, my nurse was Cindy. Right away she recognized that I could not hear well. Or maybe hubby told her without me hearing. She would generally talk directly to me. Of course we went through the whole pre-test/pre-surgery routine. Lots of questions, allergies, false teeth, medications, and other items.

Hubby helped me change into my hospital gown, and oh I looked so nice. I was then given an IV in my fore arm, in case I needed to use sign, I could have my hands free. Almost just a few minutes after I got the IV, the anesthesiologist came over to speak to me. To go to sleep, I received the Michael Jackson special. Of course in a smaller dose and only for a short time. When that person came to see me, they then took me to the testing room.

For the test, I removed my left hearing aid, but kept the right in. I removed the left, because I would be lying on that side. They let hubby come back to the test room, to help get me set up and comfortable. Hubby said goodbye, and then I was out. I remember being awake, saying goodbye to hubby and then waking up. When I did wake up I was confused and disorientated. I could not hear very well, with just one aid in, which probably added to my confusion. The next thing I knew I was being rolled out into the recovery area. From here is when hubby joined me again. I don’t remember waking up much; it wasn’t that I was drowsy, but more confused.

Once I was awake enough they allowed me to get up and go to the bathroom. I was given cheesits crackers and apple juice. The nurse I had before going back, I could hear a few words every once in a while. The nurse I had during the test, I don’t think I could hear at all. And the nurse I had in the recovery area, I could hear better than the others.

Hubby helped me get dressed and comfortable. Very shortly after getting settled from dressing, the doctor came back. He said that the exam was normal. That they took some biopsies, and the lab work and biopsy would be back in a week. I then went home.

On the way home hubby and my FIL stopped for sandwiches at WaWa. I was incredibly completely terribly hungry.

Once home hubby and I ate. The meds that I had been given didn’t have any lasting effects, thus I wasn’t drowsy anymore. Hubby mentioned that when he had an upper GI, the same meds made him just so happy. We had different reactions to the same medication.

On this night we were in bed, around 10pm. I slept like a rock.

Those were my adventures in medical procedures. See now I wasn’t too graphic, was I?

More to come, stay tuned!