This appointment went pretty well but was mostly unproductive which was annoying. When I had seen Dr. B before I had my dental work he seemed like there was a lot of things he wanted to go over and make some changes. As it turned out my mom had her own doctors appointment that morning (funny enough it was in the same building) so she could not go to the appointment with me.
After a wait I get called in to the nurses office for the pre-appointment. She weighs me (down a few pounds :D) and goes to get my blood pressure and surprised herself that she got it on the first try. She remarked that either she is getting better at hearing it or I am becoming normal. I told her it must be her! She gives me my depo shot and then asks what I am there for so she can make up her list.
I get in to Dr. B's office and he asks how the surgery went (fine) and how things were (also fine). He then looks up my bloodwork results and notes that my kidney's are perfectly fine and that my Vitamin D is still really really low but it is at least slowly getting better so that's all we can hope for. He told me to get out in the sun at least 20 minutes a day, even if I am in the shade it still counts. He then closes up his screen and starts making it look like the appointment is done! I then quickly get him back on track and remind him what he had wanted to do. He asked how my pain meds were doing and I said that they were still working but I was probably going to go through my breakthrough meds faster than normal because of the surgery, vacations and traveling. He asked how often I was using them and then confirmed my daily dose meds and then asked when I was due to switch them which will probably be in the fall. We basically both agreed that this is not the time to be changing meds around since I am 'stable' (seems to be a common word lately with doctors and me) and most importantly because I am going to be traveling. He wants to make sure that I will be home for a good few weeks when he changes the meds around just so that if there are any problems I am right here at home and he is right here to help out if anything happens. This is actually perfect as it shows he is taking things seriously and understanding that I have more 'special needs' than most of his other patients. I did get the name of the medication this time and will be doing my own research before going back to see him. He also needed some time to figure out how to work out what dosage I would need to start at, even said he might just phone the drug rep and get them to work it out for him.
We then discuss changing my osteoporosis meds from once a month to once a week. He said that they did not have anywhere near the restrictions food and time wise as the monthly ones which would be a very welcome change! To those who don't know, to take my pill I had to take it as soon as I woke up with a full glass of water, then I could not eat, drink, take other medications or lie down for around 30-60 minutes. This made things very difficult with my sleep schedule and the fact that I generally take my morning meds as soon as I wake up. It also had the very annoying side effect of bad heartburn (like I needed more) and a very 'achey' feeling that night or the next. Getting rid of all that just seemed perfect so he made me up a new prescription for it. I then asked him about a new DEXA scan and he checked when I had mine last (would be 2 years in September) but then said it wouldn't be covered as they can only do it every two years as a very minimum and did not like approving it so early, ideally they like to wait 3 - 5 years. He also told me that any changes with starting medication don't show up for a few years but that we would submit for a new scan in the fall (so we have gone two years) and see what happens. I had wondered about getting one to just confirm that the medication is helping but he reminded me that the medication I am on is the best one for me to be on.
At that everything was done so he told me to enjoy my summer and he would see me in the fall. I told him that I was having an MRI on the 9th so probably would be back to him sooner to get the results and he laughed and said he needed to set one up for his back too and was glad I had reminded him. So I walked out with a new prescription for an alternate osteoporosis medication, knowing the name of the new medication we are going to try in the fall and knowing that he knew I might have to refill my breakthrough meds early this summer because of all that is going on (and all the fun and enjoyment that is going on, I think he was just as happy to hear that honestly).
So, I normally took my monthly pill on the 27th as that is the easiest date for me to remember (I think I have wrote of the eerie 27 connection my family has before) and my appointment just happened to be on the 27th. I had no monthly pills left and figured I would just start my weekly ones that day. As it turned out I didn't get the actual pills until Thursday night. A temporary pharmacist was working when I went to get them and just told me that I was to take the pills with food and that I could start them at any time. I got home and had pull the box out of the bag and on the pharmacy's label it says to take with food. Yet on the package it says to take it first thing in the morning with a glass of water and no food, drink, medications or laying down for 30-60 minutes!! I was not impressed to say the least! I did not take the pill and decided that I would call the pharmacist the next day and figure this out (the pharmacy was closed at this point). I called the next day and again got a temporary fill in who told me that yes those were the directions, he did not know why they said to take with food on the label, that this prescription overwrote my monthly prescription and that since they had already billed my insurance I would just have to use these ones for the next three months and could change after that. Or I could pay out of pocket for the monthly one if my GP called in a script for it!!! It is an understatement that I was not impressed!! He then suggested calling the next day when the normal pharmacist was in.
I decided that since mom was going out to do some grocery shopping that I would just go with her and go to the pharmacy in person instead of calling. I got talking to the pharmacist and she said she had no clue how someone could put a label on the med saying take with food when it clearly is not allowed. She goes to tell me that the only thing different with the weekly medication was that I didn't necessarily have to take it as soon as I got up. There is basically a three hour window of not eating when you can take it. I can take it if I haven' t had anything to eat for two hours and won't be eating for another 30-60 minutes. She also wasn't impressed that the temp guy said I was basically stuck with it for three months because they actually have a 7 day window in which they can reverse any billing (mom and I still wonder though how they billed for the medication a day before I even picked up the medication???). I told her that if the pharmacist had of told me that I still had to follow the strict food rules that I would have never have taken the medication. I also figure that since he told me to take it with food, he was giving wrong information that lead to me accepting to take the medication and for me to take over the pills which would not have happened if he had told the truth. Thankfully my pharmacist knows me and the medications were blister packed. She suggested that with my history (gastroparesis and absorption issues) the weekly pill would be better for me and I would probably absorb more. I told her it was the side effects that concerned me because if I am going to get the side effects every week, then there is no reason why it should have been switched. We came to an agreement that she took back two months of the supply and only gave me one month. I am to try it for a month and see if I get the side effects and if I do then we can switch back to the monthly ones. It was all just such a mess and I am very upset at the temp pharmacist. I think I will only go in for my medications at times I know that my pharmacist (the two permanent ones) are there to deal with. I will also be contacting my doctors office and letting him know that there is no difference in the directions between the monthly and weekly forms of the medication.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Amazing Day Part Two (THE JACKSONS!!!!!)
The lights dim and a movie starts playing on one of the display monitors. However there is no sound. A few seconds later the movie plays again with loud & very clear sound (This was opening night of the tour so a few technical glitches are to be expected). Then the four brothers come out and the launch right in to "Can You Feel It" with each brother taking their turn at the chorus so you got to hear all four of their voices right off. Tito was on the left, then Jackie, Marlon and Jermaine (for most of the show anyways) but for some reason Tito was not wearing his trademark bowler hat. They kept on going through "Blame It On The Boogie", "Wanna Be Where You Are" then launched into Michael's popular single "Rock With You". Pictures on the display screen alternated between the live concert, pictures of all the brothers on the Victory Tour and pictures of the four remaining Jackson's walking on a beach playing around. "Show Me The Way To Go" was next and then into one of my favourites "Lovely One". This is when it starts to get sad :(
A video montage of the Jackson family when they were young as in just starting out all the way to current images then started with "Where Here To Entertain You" accompanying it. After a brief costume change they came back on and went through "Looking Through The Window", "Time Waits For No One", and "Push Me Away". At this point you could tell that there were starting in on a tribute to their brother. For the most part through the show Jermaine handled doing Michael's lyrics but Marlon then came forward and went right into "Man Of War" and then ended the song off by saying that we all need to study peace. Jermaine then came forward and went in to Micheal's song "Gone Too Soon". I don't think there were many dry eyes in the entire theatre and even Jermaine struggled to control his emotions and couldn't get the last few words out. During this song there were many pictures of Micheal shown and surprisingly there even was a picture of him with his two oldest children (Prince & Paris).
After a respectful minute of quiet reflection, they started talking about the Motown days and Marlon went into a story about how when they first went to Detroit to audition for Berry Gordy at his house, Marlon and Micheal were too young to really understand how serious the moment was and instead of rehearsing, the two would sneak out onto Berry Gordy's personal golf course and that there were bet's of $100 for who ever could get a hole in one. But that no matter how much goofing around they did, once they hit that stage they were pure business. The got talking about some of the songs and joking around and then Tito went into "They want to hear 'I want you back', they want to hear 'ABC', so let's give it to them!" and they all went right into the positions that they used to stand in and dance like as kids. They did a really good medley of all their early hits. I completely enjoyed this part because I had seen 3T (Tito's sons) doing this medley on YouTube and thought it was neat that they used the exact same montage. The songs in it were: "I Want You Back" / "ABC" / "The Love You Save" / "Never Can Say Goodbye" / "All I Do Is Think of You" / "I'll Be There"
At this point Tito, Jackie and Marlon left the stage and Jermaine stayed out to do a few of his solo songs. I thought it was funny after when dad told me that they must be pushing 'that other one' out front now since Micheal was gone. Had to explain to him that Jermaine actually pursued solo work before the others (besides Micheal's work when he was younger). It was funny because I sat next to this older lady who got so majorly excited just to hear Jermaine. He did "Dynamite", "Let's Get Serious" and "Do What You Do". I never had really listened to the different brother's older solo material but did know these songs as they are on a few J5 compilation albums. I did get back to the room though and download "Do What You Do" so I could listen to it (and a few other songs so I had them right on my iPod instead of having to search through my MP3 player for them).
The brother's returned for the last set of songs and launched straight in to Micheal's "Can't Let Her Get Away" before taking a break from singing and introducted all of the band members. One of which they said had worked and gone on tour with Michael and The Jackson's before. The then started in on the last set of songs including "This Place Hotel (Heartbreak Hotel)" before surprisingly going into "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" which was one of Michael's bigger hits but is commonly known to actually be a song about the brother's wives getting involved in their music and messing things up so I was kinda shocked by that. They finished the show off with one last Michael song "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and ended off the night with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
Dad and I made our way out of the theatre and I was very disappointed to discover they were not selling any merchandise and the only way to have gotten a tour program was to be in the VIP seats (which I would have LOVED to do but just was not financially possible). We headed out of the casino and eventually found our truck only to confirm dad's suspecion that yes, we had one very flat tire. Add to this we couldn't even get in the passenger side door because the car next to ours was so close. Thankfully the neighbouring cars all seemed to be people from the concert so it wasn't long until we had a large area to work with. Very long story short is that an hour and a half later we were back on the road heading to our hotel. I got my PJ's on, made a few facebook posts about the amazing concert we had just witnessed and then found out that it most likely wasn't the milk products that had upset my stomach the day before because I had the same problem again that night.
We got up early the next morning and since dad just wanted to get home and get the tire fixed we just headed to Timmy's and got some drinks and headed home. Made a few pitstops on the way home for drinks and bathroom breaks but got home at a decent time. I of course went straight to bed and stayed there pretty much straight through til Friday afternoon when we were holding my nephew's 10.5th birthday (he is a Christmas baby like me so mom hates through parties at that time so we do half party's with K, we used to do Easter time parties with me because that was my supposed-to-be birthday). We ended up with 5 kids who got to play two games of lazer tag, do two climbs on the rock wall (only 3 attempted it, and only 1 of those did it more than once), pizza, cake, ice cream and playing in the 'ball room' (a netted off room with a soccer ball - not sure why it is so exciting lol). We then headed home and I crashed for a good couple of days. Finally by monday my stomach had finally settled down - just in time for my doctor's appointment wednesday (that will be another post!).
So All In All:
A video montage of the Jackson family when they were young as in just starting out all the way to current images then started with "Where Here To Entertain You" accompanying it. After a brief costume change they came back on and went through "Looking Through The Window", "Time Waits For No One", and "Push Me Away". At this point you could tell that there were starting in on a tribute to their brother. For the most part through the show Jermaine handled doing Michael's lyrics but Marlon then came forward and went right into "Man Of War" and then ended the song off by saying that we all need to study peace. Jermaine then came forward and went in to Micheal's song "Gone Too Soon". I don't think there were many dry eyes in the entire theatre and even Jermaine struggled to control his emotions and couldn't get the last few words out. During this song there were many pictures of Micheal shown and surprisingly there even was a picture of him with his two oldest children (Prince & Paris).
After a respectful minute of quiet reflection, they started talking about the Motown days and Marlon went into a story about how when they first went to Detroit to audition for Berry Gordy at his house, Marlon and Micheal were too young to really understand how serious the moment was and instead of rehearsing, the two would sneak out onto Berry Gordy's personal golf course and that there were bet's of $100 for who ever could get a hole in one. But that no matter how much goofing around they did, once they hit that stage they were pure business. The got talking about some of the songs and joking around and then Tito went into "They want to hear 'I want you back', they want to hear 'ABC', so let's give it to them!" and they all went right into the positions that they used to stand in and dance like as kids. They did a really good medley of all their early hits. I completely enjoyed this part because I had seen 3T (Tito's sons) doing this medley on YouTube and thought it was neat that they used the exact same montage. The songs in it were: "I Want You Back" / "ABC" / "The Love You Save" / "Never Can Say Goodbye" / "All I Do Is Think of You" / "I'll Be There"
At this point Tito, Jackie and Marlon left the stage and Jermaine stayed out to do a few of his solo songs. I thought it was funny after when dad told me that they must be pushing 'that other one' out front now since Micheal was gone. Had to explain to him that Jermaine actually pursued solo work before the others (besides Micheal's work when he was younger). It was funny because I sat next to this older lady who got so majorly excited just to hear Jermaine. He did "Dynamite", "Let's Get Serious" and "Do What You Do". I never had really listened to the different brother's older solo material but did know these songs as they are on a few J5 compilation albums. I did get back to the room though and download "Do What You Do" so I could listen to it (and a few other songs so I had them right on my iPod instead of having to search through my MP3 player for them).
The brother's returned for the last set of songs and launched straight in to Micheal's "Can't Let Her Get Away" before taking a break from singing and introducted all of the band members. One of which they said had worked and gone on tour with Michael and The Jackson's before. The then started in on the last set of songs including "This Place Hotel (Heartbreak Hotel)" before surprisingly going into "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" which was one of Michael's bigger hits but is commonly known to actually be a song about the brother's wives getting involved in their music and messing things up so I was kinda shocked by that. They finished the show off with one last Michael song "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and ended off the night with "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
Dad and I made our way out of the theatre and I was very disappointed to discover they were not selling any merchandise and the only way to have gotten a tour program was to be in the VIP seats (which I would have LOVED to do but just was not financially possible). We headed out of the casino and eventually found our truck only to confirm dad's suspecion that yes, we had one very flat tire. Add to this we couldn't even get in the passenger side door because the car next to ours was so close. Thankfully the neighbouring cars all seemed to be people from the concert so it wasn't long until we had a large area to work with. Very long story short is that an hour and a half later we were back on the road heading to our hotel. I got my PJ's on, made a few facebook posts about the amazing concert we had just witnessed and then found out that it most likely wasn't the milk products that had upset my stomach the day before because I had the same problem again that night.
We got up early the next morning and since dad just wanted to get home and get the tire fixed we just headed to Timmy's and got some drinks and headed home. Made a few pitstops on the way home for drinks and bathroom breaks but got home at a decent time. I of course went straight to bed and stayed there pretty much straight through til Friday afternoon when we were holding my nephew's 10.5th birthday (he is a Christmas baby like me so mom hates through parties at that time so we do half party's with K, we used to do Easter time parties with me because that was my supposed-to-be birthday). We ended up with 5 kids who got to play two games of lazer tag, do two climbs on the rock wall (only 3 attempted it, and only 1 of those did it more than once), pizza, cake, ice cream and playing in the 'ball room' (a netted off room with a soccer ball - not sure why it is so exciting lol). We then headed home and I crashed for a good couple of days. Finally by monday my stomach had finally settled down - just in time for my doctor's appointment wednesday (that will be another post!).
So All In All:
- 2 days
- 959.7 km
- 4 Jacksons
- 5 days to recover
- 1 amazing night that I will never forget!!!
Amazing Day Part One (Pre-Concert)
[Note: Again this is late in being posted so I am going to change the post date so it is on the date that this day actually happened. Now isn't that confusing lol. So I am writing on July 1st but this post will have been posted on June 21st to make it easier for me :D Also I apologize in advance but this is going to be a really really long post. Lot's of back story and then all the events for a full 24 hour time frame.]
This was probably one of my stupidest plans in all honesty. I didn't even know what my dentist was going to do when I had my dental surgery and was just hoping that it was only fillings and everything went perfectly. That was monday. On Tuesday we were quick to assume that I was lactose intolerant again (I was as a child - just found this out recently) since all I had to eat after surgery was mainly dairy products (pudding, ice cream, chocolatae milk etc) and let's just say my stomach really really didn't like me and I spent from 5am until 2pm not daring to venture too far from the bathroom. After everything was 'empty' mom made sure to make me some 'meals' that had no dairy in them for me to eat (Jello and chicken soup). No body said it but we were all concerned for Wednesday. Wednesday I had planned something that I should have never planned but there was no way I was going to let the opportunity pass me by!!!
Most people don't know this (at least on the blog I haven't mentioned it - but Sarah knows for sure lol) but I am a massive Jackson fanatic. It started out just being Micheal that I loved but then when his nephews (3T) came around I loved them too. Then I started getting into the Jackson 5 and The Jacksons music (I was too young when the split to ever remember them). My parents joked that I walked around the house singing "Beat It" before I could even talk in full sentances. Over the years I have come to find that there isn't a Jackson who sings that I dont like. And there are a lot of them! I would say the most current Jackson's to put out music would be Taryll Jackson (1/3rd of 3T - Tito Jackson's middle child) and Austin Brown (Rebbie Jackson's son). I have the vast majority of CDs (though I am behind on Janet's last album), mainly only missing the ones that were done before I was born and the 'brothers' (Jackie, Tito, Jermain, & Marlon) solo stuff. I do however have a far bit of my iPod's memory devoted to the solo projects and old J5 stuff. I was devestated when Micheal died. It put an end to my most wanted fantasy. I had hoped sometime that I would actually be able to see him in concert. I was very very close to buying tickets to the "This Is It" shows in England but chickened out as I couldn't find someone else to go and didn't want to go that far alone. So, when I heard that the brothers were going on tour I was so happy, then I heard that they were going to be in the state that boarders my province and I scrambled to see if I could make it work (which wasn' t working - my mom's comment was "Why do you want to go see 4 old guys dance" and my dad refused to drive in the city they were appearing). Then on pure chance I stumbled on the fact that they had added a few new dates and venues and was actually coming to Canada! Not only that, they were going to be only 5 hours away from me! Then a family friend said she wanted to go (ends up she couldn't get off work so my dad, knowing that I really wanted to go, ended up taking me) and that she would do the driving. Everything was so perfect!! Except the fact that the concert was only two days after my dental surgery. I had surgery on the 18th (Monday) and the concert was on the 20th (Wednesday). I didn't care though, there was no way I was missing this. In hindsight, I really should have cancelled my dental surgery but I just wanted to get it over and done with before summer started. So, after a lot of rambling on and on, here is what happened that day :)
We woke up early, packed the truck stopped at Tim Hortons and were on our way. We left here around 9am and drove pretty much straight all the way to Barrie (minus a few Timmy stops and bathroom breaks) and got into the city around 1:15ish. Dad lived in Barrie when he was quite young so after we glimpsed the hotel we had booked (but didn't go in and register as we couldn't register until 3pm) and then dad drove around showing me all places he remembed from growing up. First he showed me the dock area and then to the house they lived in before leaving the city. Drove a bit more and we got to a rural type of area (lots of trees, I think maybe a concervation area was there now) and showed me the first house they lived in once they got to Canada (Dad was born in England, he was a war baby and moved her when he was a few months old) then showed me the long trek they had to walk to get to their first one-room school house. While driving to try and find the old school house he showed me a small building and mentions "Mom used to teach Sunday School there". Never in my life did I know that my grandparents / dad went to church years ago, let alone know that my Nan was a Sunday School teacher! It appeared that the old one room school house had been torn down as there was a new-ish looking house were he thought the school should be. We then drove to another surronding area of Barrie and dad was intent on finding this church. He wouldn't ask for directions, wouldn't let me call mom to get the address and directions and just kept getting madder and madder about not being able to find the place and by that time it was past the time that we could go to the hotel so he gave up on it and said we would look for it the next day maybe or this summer as we are planning on taking a family vacation up around that area.
So we head back into the busy area of the city and pull into our hotel. We get all the paperwork gathered that we needed and head into the building. Somehow, when I booked our rooms they managed to put me at Hotel B instead of Hotel A whose website I had used to book the room! The lady had to call Hotel B and see if we had reservations there. Then she says that since it was a booking for that date, if we wanted to stay at Hotel A, we would have to pay for the room then and we would NOT get a refund from Hotel B. Thankfully Hotel B was only a few city blocks from Hotel A (about a 5 - 10 minute drive, mainly because you have to get on and off a major highway). Thankfully we didn't unpack anything yet so we hopped back in the truck and headed off to Hotel B. Dad went in first and made sure everything was okay and then came out shaking his head that he had to pay a $60 safety deposit in cash before we could get the keys to the room. Thought that was odd as I had ordered the room on credit card and was under the impression that if any damage was done to the room (like dad and I are such party people - dad has been sober 30+ years) that it would be charged to my card. We unpacked the truck and lugged everything to our room (second floor with no elevator!) and tried to decide what to do as we had only a short amount of time. Originally I had planned on having a nap during this time but I was so excited about the concert and we only had like a 30minute time frame where I could sleep, I decided to pass on the nap and just get showered and changed then played around on my iPod for a while. We had passed a Mandarin restaurant while driving around and I had asked dad if he had ever been to one and that it was really good food. When I came out of the shower I found that dad had gone through all the booklets and binder of information while I was in and had found a map with directions to get from our hotel to the closest Mandarin. I was a little concerned as I hadn't really had anything to eat since before I had my surgery but my stomach felt good and once I got eating I realized just how hungry I was! I even went up for seconds AND dessert! We had a great supper (and ended up with an inside joke of "Welcome to Mandarin!") and then headed off to go to the concert.
After the major highway turned into a normal type of highway (I know that makes no sense unless you have seen it) dad told me this story from when he was a kid. He pointed out this small lake and said that that is where him and my uncle always went fishing. Then one day nan found out that they were crossing the highway to get to this lake and told them that they were never to cross that road again. So instead they found drainage pipes and crawled through them UNDER the highway to get back and go fishing again. I asked if he ever told nan that and he said he didn't want to get in trouble lol. We drove for quite a while and than dad took a turnoff that he thought was the right one, however all it ended in was a LCBO and no signs about the casino. Dad got back on the highway and traveled until her realized that we had gone too far. We ended up getting off and going to a gas station to get directions. So we had to turn around and go back to where we had first been. So we were finally on the right road and there was a lot of big signs advertising the place, until we went down the road and found that the bridge was completely gone and that we had to make a massive detour. A short 5 minute trip turned into a good 20 minute detour.
We finally got to the casino but then had no clue where we were going. There were signs for the Entertainment Center that we followed but that ended up leading us to the hotel area. We kept going around the building and time was running out and I could tell dad was getting frustrated and nervous. We found a big entrance at the back so I ran in and asked where we were supposed to go and where to park. He told me to go along the side of the building and there was the entrance door there, but not as far as the hotel. Confusing as that is how we came in. We went back that way and saw nothing again. We could easily see the Entertainment Center, just no entrances or places to park. There was a large set of multiple doors so dad finally just told me to leave one ticket and to get into the place so I didn't miss anything and he would find a parking spot and meet me in there. Well that turned out to be the emergency exit for the Entertainment Center :S I ended up back at the first door and walking through the entire casino to find the concert hall. Somehow, that I still dont understad, dad caught up to me just before I had entered the Entertainment Center. We got in the place, found our amazing seats and got comfy. This is when dad let me know that we might have a slight issue because he thought that one of the tires in the truck was slowly leaking air but not to worry and to just enjoy the show. We thought it was funny as looking around at the people at the show, I bet anyone would have bet good money that it was me that was accompaning dad and not dad accompanying me. I was probably one of the youngest people there! It was at a casino so it was 19+ but still there were a lot more older people than younger ones. Of course the concert didn't start at 8pm on the dot like dad figured it would but I didn't care! Finally it was time and I was suddenly smaked into reality that I was actually mere seconds away from seeing The Jacksons!!!!!
The concert and what happened to dad and I after it will be a seperate post as this one is getting way too long!!!
This was probably one of my stupidest plans in all honesty. I didn't even know what my dentist was going to do when I had my dental surgery and was just hoping that it was only fillings and everything went perfectly. That was monday. On Tuesday we were quick to assume that I was lactose intolerant again (I was as a child - just found this out recently) since all I had to eat after surgery was mainly dairy products (pudding, ice cream, chocolatae milk etc) and let's just say my stomach really really didn't like me and I spent from 5am until 2pm not daring to venture too far from the bathroom. After everything was 'empty' mom made sure to make me some 'meals' that had no dairy in them for me to eat (Jello and chicken soup). No body said it but we were all concerned for Wednesday. Wednesday I had planned something that I should have never planned but there was no way I was going to let the opportunity pass me by!!!
Most people don't know this (at least on the blog I haven't mentioned it - but Sarah knows for sure lol) but I am a massive Jackson fanatic. It started out just being Micheal that I loved but then when his nephews (3T) came around I loved them too. Then I started getting into the Jackson 5 and The Jacksons music (I was too young when the split to ever remember them). My parents joked that I walked around the house singing "Beat It" before I could even talk in full sentances. Over the years I have come to find that there isn't a Jackson who sings that I dont like. And there are a lot of them! I would say the most current Jackson's to put out music would be Taryll Jackson (1/3rd of 3T - Tito Jackson's middle child) and Austin Brown (Rebbie Jackson's son). I have the vast majority of CDs (though I am behind on Janet's last album), mainly only missing the ones that were done before I was born and the 'brothers' (Jackie, Tito, Jermain, & Marlon) solo stuff. I do however have a far bit of my iPod's memory devoted to the solo projects and old J5 stuff. I was devestated when Micheal died. It put an end to my most wanted fantasy. I had hoped sometime that I would actually be able to see him in concert. I was very very close to buying tickets to the "This Is It" shows in England but chickened out as I couldn't find someone else to go and didn't want to go that far alone. So, when I heard that the brothers were going on tour I was so happy, then I heard that they were going to be in the state that boarders my province and I scrambled to see if I could make it work (which wasn' t working - my mom's comment was "Why do you want to go see 4 old guys dance" and my dad refused to drive in the city they were appearing). Then on pure chance I stumbled on the fact that they had added a few new dates and venues and was actually coming to Canada! Not only that, they were going to be only 5 hours away from me! Then a family friend said she wanted to go (ends up she couldn't get off work so my dad, knowing that I really wanted to go, ended up taking me) and that she would do the driving. Everything was so perfect!! Except the fact that the concert was only two days after my dental surgery. I had surgery on the 18th (Monday) and the concert was on the 20th (Wednesday). I didn't care though, there was no way I was missing this. In hindsight, I really should have cancelled my dental surgery but I just wanted to get it over and done with before summer started. So, after a lot of rambling on and on, here is what happened that day :)
We woke up early, packed the truck stopped at Tim Hortons and were on our way. We left here around 9am and drove pretty much straight all the way to Barrie (minus a few Timmy stops and bathroom breaks) and got into the city around 1:15ish. Dad lived in Barrie when he was quite young so after we glimpsed the hotel we had booked (but didn't go in and register as we couldn't register until 3pm) and then dad drove around showing me all places he remembed from growing up. First he showed me the dock area and then to the house they lived in before leaving the city. Drove a bit more and we got to a rural type of area (lots of trees, I think maybe a concervation area was there now) and showed me the first house they lived in once they got to Canada (Dad was born in England, he was a war baby and moved her when he was a few months old) then showed me the long trek they had to walk to get to their first one-room school house. While driving to try and find the old school house he showed me a small building and mentions "Mom used to teach Sunday School there". Never in my life did I know that my grandparents / dad went to church years ago, let alone know that my Nan was a Sunday School teacher! It appeared that the old one room school house had been torn down as there was a new-ish looking house were he thought the school should be. We then drove to another surronding area of Barrie and dad was intent on finding this church. He wouldn't ask for directions, wouldn't let me call mom to get the address and directions and just kept getting madder and madder about not being able to find the place and by that time it was past the time that we could go to the hotel so he gave up on it and said we would look for it the next day maybe or this summer as we are planning on taking a family vacation up around that area.
So we head back into the busy area of the city and pull into our hotel. We get all the paperwork gathered that we needed and head into the building. Somehow, when I booked our rooms they managed to put me at Hotel B instead of Hotel A whose website I had used to book the room! The lady had to call Hotel B and see if we had reservations there. Then she says that since it was a booking for that date, if we wanted to stay at Hotel A, we would have to pay for the room then and we would NOT get a refund from Hotel B. Thankfully Hotel B was only a few city blocks from Hotel A (about a 5 - 10 minute drive, mainly because you have to get on and off a major highway). Thankfully we didn't unpack anything yet so we hopped back in the truck and headed off to Hotel B. Dad went in first and made sure everything was okay and then came out shaking his head that he had to pay a $60 safety deposit in cash before we could get the keys to the room. Thought that was odd as I had ordered the room on credit card and was under the impression that if any damage was done to the room (like dad and I are such party people - dad has been sober 30+ years) that it would be charged to my card. We unpacked the truck and lugged everything to our room (second floor with no elevator!) and tried to decide what to do as we had only a short amount of time. Originally I had planned on having a nap during this time but I was so excited about the concert and we only had like a 30minute time frame where I could sleep, I decided to pass on the nap and just get showered and changed then played around on my iPod for a while. We had passed a Mandarin restaurant while driving around and I had asked dad if he had ever been to one and that it was really good food. When I came out of the shower I found that dad had gone through all the booklets and binder of information while I was in and had found a map with directions to get from our hotel to the closest Mandarin. I was a little concerned as I hadn't really had anything to eat since before I had my surgery but my stomach felt good and once I got eating I realized just how hungry I was! I even went up for seconds AND dessert! We had a great supper (and ended up with an inside joke of "Welcome to Mandarin!") and then headed off to go to the concert.
After the major highway turned into a normal type of highway (I know that makes no sense unless you have seen it) dad told me this story from when he was a kid. He pointed out this small lake and said that that is where him and my uncle always went fishing. Then one day nan found out that they were crossing the highway to get to this lake and told them that they were never to cross that road again. So instead they found drainage pipes and crawled through them UNDER the highway to get back and go fishing again. I asked if he ever told nan that and he said he didn't want to get in trouble lol. We drove for quite a while and than dad took a turnoff that he thought was the right one, however all it ended in was a LCBO and no signs about the casino. Dad got back on the highway and traveled until her realized that we had gone too far. We ended up getting off and going to a gas station to get directions. So we had to turn around and go back to where we had first been. So we were finally on the right road and there was a lot of big signs advertising the place, until we went down the road and found that the bridge was completely gone and that we had to make a massive detour. A short 5 minute trip turned into a good 20 minute detour.
We finally got to the casino but then had no clue where we were going. There were signs for the Entertainment Center that we followed but that ended up leading us to the hotel area. We kept going around the building and time was running out and I could tell dad was getting frustrated and nervous. We found a big entrance at the back so I ran in and asked where we were supposed to go and where to park. He told me to go along the side of the building and there was the entrance door there, but not as far as the hotel. Confusing as that is how we came in. We went back that way and saw nothing again. We could easily see the Entertainment Center, just no entrances or places to park. There was a large set of multiple doors so dad finally just told me to leave one ticket and to get into the place so I didn't miss anything and he would find a parking spot and meet me in there. Well that turned out to be the emergency exit for the Entertainment Center :S I ended up back at the first door and walking through the entire casino to find the concert hall. Somehow, that I still dont understad, dad caught up to me just before I had entered the Entertainment Center. We got in the place, found our amazing seats and got comfy. This is when dad let me know that we might have a slight issue because he thought that one of the tires in the truck was slowly leaking air but not to worry and to just enjoy the show. We thought it was funny as looking around at the people at the show, I bet anyone would have bet good money that it was me that was accompaning dad and not dad accompanying me. I was probably one of the youngest people there! It was at a casino so it was 19+ but still there were a lot more older people than younger ones. Of course the concert didn't start at 8pm on the dot like dad figured it would but I didn't care! Finally it was time and I was suddenly smaked into reality that I was actually mere seconds away from seeing The Jacksons!!!!!
The concert and what happened to dad and I after it will be a seperate post as this one is getting way too long!!!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Dental Surgery
[Note: Last week was amazingly hectic so I will be backdating a few posts so that it is posted on the actual date that whatever in the post occured]
Well as you know, I was quite nervous about going into this (minor) surgery because of what happened when I had the endoscope back in January. Because I am 'latex sensetive', I get booked into the special OR and get done first thing in the morning. One thing to point out is that I am NOT allergic to latex, but because of how I react to different adhesives and a few other issues that show a sensetivity to latex I have been told that I need to put down that I need to avoid latex because, especially with EDS, you never know when a sensetivity is going to turn into a full blown allergy - and with latex you need to be more aware than a lot of other allergens because of how and why you normally come into contact with latex (medical reasons mainly). Anyways, I had to be at the hospital at 6am as I was going to have surgery at 8am. I stayed awake up on the computer for a while, then went down to have a very quick shower and pack up my stuff for the day. I think it was around 1:30am that I acutally got to sleep and woke up around 5, so not too much sleep!
We get to the hospital and of course the staff at the check-in area does not come on until 6 so we had to sit and wait for a little bit. It really helps that there is a full Tim Hortons right next to the check-in area that were getting set up around this time so the scent of coffee was even more magnified to those of us who could not eat or drink. Got checked in at the first 'station' and then was sent up to the third floor to check into the surgical department. Then we sat and waited some more. Finally I was called back to get 'dressed', the lovely mesh underwear, hospital bottoms that don't do up and double gowned so your not flashing anyone lol. I then got mom and we went into the second pre-op area to wait for the nurse to go over everything. The nurse calls me back so mom and I head back and there are two nurses - one is a student nurse! All that was going through my mind was there was no way a student nurse was going to try for an IV! The student nurse goes over all my information in very fine detail and then the nurse said that she would get my IV started. I kinda got worried and said that they usually start my IV in the OR because I am a hard stick. She said that she bet she could get it and I was apprehensive about it but still said it was hard but okay. I quickly went to the bathroom first (when I get an IV in I do my best to not move at all!). During the time I was in the bathroom, mom went over with the nurses just how hard of stick I was. I get back and the student nurse kept going over my info and asked me when the last time I urinated was lol. We all just kinda looked at her like 'are you serious?' then I said 'uh, I just went'. Then they told me to get up on the bed.
The nurse looked at my veins in my arms (which I told her never work and that they have to use my hands), she then looked at my hands and went and got a warm blanket to put on my hands. She then was sure that she had a vein in my left hand so went for it. Of course, she didn't get it but even though I knew the instant that she put the vein in that it wasn't going to work, she didn't and spent a good amount of time digging around which was so painfull I was in tears when she was done. She finally pulled it out and goes 'You are a hard stick, guess I should have listened to you'. At that point my emotions and fear kicked in and I wouldn't even look at her or talk to her. Mom answered all the questions after that. Just as we were about to leave the nurse asks am I not allergic to latex and mom said that I am sensetive to it so she told me that I needed to take the little botties off and if I had my own socks I could put them on. Apparently the booties do have a small amount of latex in them (which made sense as to why my feet were so itchy!). At this point the nurse takes me on my bed and says mom can come as well and we head up to the last pre-op area. This is the first time that someone has been allowed to go this far with me. Usually there are no non-medical or non-surgical people allowed in this room, but this time most of the people waiting for surgery had someone else there with them.
I don't think the nurses in the pre-op room are used to patients coming up having already had a failed IV start as they weren't really sure if they should start it or what they were supposed to be doing. The anesthesiologist (we'll call her Dr. A as I can't remember her name and she was an anesthesiologist :) )came in and started asking me a lot of questions about my information and then mainly about why I was on a beta blocker. She got quite involved about what my normal resting rate is, did I feel it when it raced etc. She then started asking about the IV start - is it normally hard, was I stressed about it, was I anxious at the moment etc. She was very very nice, she then checked my hands (didn't even look at my arms which showed she trusted my knowledge) and asked the nurses in the pre-op to get me a warm blanket for me to put my hands in and to keep them in the blanket until I got to the OR. My dentist came in and talked to me, another nurse talked to me and after a short while (I heard one nurse say that I couldn't be nervous as I was just sitting there reading while all the doctors came and went lol) they told me it was time to go to the OR.
I got into the OR and all the doctors and nurses introduced themselves to me and told me what their job was that day. One nurse brought me a few blankets so I could put them under my knees (they don't do well straight out for any length of time, my back either) and as Dr. A was looking at my left hand (the same hand the prior nurse blew a vein in) I heard the head nurse read out all my information to the room. When she got to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Type 3, Dr A looked at her and said "Type 3?" then on confirmation nodded like that was a good thing. I was shocked and asked her if she knew what EDS was. She said yes that they were made to go through that when she was studying (she was quite young). I told her that I had only ran into one or two doctors in my home town that knew what EDS was before meeting me. She then rhymed off the main symptoms and then "Am I right?", and she was. The only thing was she said that they were taught that most people were tall and lanky which I laughed and said obviously not. Dr. A then tried to get the IV started in my left hand. She went in and pretty much right back out and said that I did have very tricky veins, and she had never had a failed IV start. She stood there for a moment and then said that we obviously had to go to the other hand (that was still bruised from the bloodwork the week prior) so they started to move all the equipment to the other side and she said she was going to give me some 'happy gas' as it worked to make the veins more open and easy to get (and obviously keep me calm). After I was blissfully floating around she got the IV in the right hand and taped it down massively. A few more adjustments and she started the anesthetic and I was out.
I woke up in the recovery room and asked if I was in pain (nope - they gave me pain killers when I was under the anesthetic) and if i was okay. All I wanted was to get the IV out which they kept telling me would be soon. I got moved to the final post-op area and that's when they let mom in. I was feeling quite nauseaus and told the nurse that but my doctor had not put that I could get anything so they kept saying they had to ask him (he was in surgery all morning). Once mom was in the room I got her to bug the nurses about getting the IV out. Finally one came to do it and mentioned that I must really not like the IV's as normally people dont even notice that they have them until they are fully awake from the anesthetic. I told her that it was very painfull and was causing me a whole lot more than my jaw from the surgery. After drinking a glass of apple juice she finally came to take it out. This is when she noticed that my right hand was already bruised from last week's blood draw and this IV and that my left hand was all taped up because of the two failed IV starts on it. After that was out I was ready to go so they sent mom to get the van while I got dressed and then I was out of there.
Got home and was kinda dizzy but not too bad so went to have a nap. Was very unimpressed with my mom as I had asked her to move my brother's visit to K until the next day but she didn't and figured it didn't matter because I would be sleeping all day (not sure where she got that idea from). So I got to spend a good 1.5 hours sitting in my room doing nothing until he went home. I was tired and still a little groggy but not bad. My jaw was hurting but mainly it was my throat that was really sure from the tube they put down.
Worryingly we think I might have had an adverse reaction to the general anesthetic. Starting tuesday morning all the way until sunday morning I had major stomach issues. Anything I ate just went straight through me and I was starting to get dehydrated and very weak. It seems like that has finally past but we do worry that this is from the general anesthetic. If I start having issues with it, we are in trouble!!!
Well as you know, I was quite nervous about going into this (minor) surgery because of what happened when I had the endoscope back in January. Because I am 'latex sensetive', I get booked into the special OR and get done first thing in the morning. One thing to point out is that I am NOT allergic to latex, but because of how I react to different adhesives and a few other issues that show a sensetivity to latex I have been told that I need to put down that I need to avoid latex because, especially with EDS, you never know when a sensetivity is going to turn into a full blown allergy - and with latex you need to be more aware than a lot of other allergens because of how and why you normally come into contact with latex (medical reasons mainly). Anyways, I had to be at the hospital at 6am as I was going to have surgery at 8am. I stayed awake up on the computer for a while, then went down to have a very quick shower and pack up my stuff for the day. I think it was around 1:30am that I acutally got to sleep and woke up around 5, so not too much sleep!
We get to the hospital and of course the staff at the check-in area does not come on until 6 so we had to sit and wait for a little bit. It really helps that there is a full Tim Hortons right next to the check-in area that were getting set up around this time so the scent of coffee was even more magnified to those of us who could not eat or drink. Got checked in at the first 'station' and then was sent up to the third floor to check into the surgical department. Then we sat and waited some more. Finally I was called back to get 'dressed', the lovely mesh underwear, hospital bottoms that don't do up and double gowned so your not flashing anyone lol. I then got mom and we went into the second pre-op area to wait for the nurse to go over everything. The nurse calls me back so mom and I head back and there are two nurses - one is a student nurse! All that was going through my mind was there was no way a student nurse was going to try for an IV! The student nurse goes over all my information in very fine detail and then the nurse said that she would get my IV started. I kinda got worried and said that they usually start my IV in the OR because I am a hard stick. She said that she bet she could get it and I was apprehensive about it but still said it was hard but okay. I quickly went to the bathroom first (when I get an IV in I do my best to not move at all!). During the time I was in the bathroom, mom went over with the nurses just how hard of stick I was. I get back and the student nurse kept going over my info and asked me when the last time I urinated was lol. We all just kinda looked at her like 'are you serious?' then I said 'uh, I just went'. Then they told me to get up on the bed.
The nurse looked at my veins in my arms (which I told her never work and that they have to use my hands), she then looked at my hands and went and got a warm blanket to put on my hands. She then was sure that she had a vein in my left hand so went for it. Of course, she didn't get it but even though I knew the instant that she put the vein in that it wasn't going to work, she didn't and spent a good amount of time digging around which was so painfull I was in tears when she was done. She finally pulled it out and goes 'You are a hard stick, guess I should have listened to you'. At that point my emotions and fear kicked in and I wouldn't even look at her or talk to her. Mom answered all the questions after that. Just as we were about to leave the nurse asks am I not allergic to latex and mom said that I am sensetive to it so she told me that I needed to take the little botties off and if I had my own socks I could put them on. Apparently the booties do have a small amount of latex in them (which made sense as to why my feet were so itchy!). At this point the nurse takes me on my bed and says mom can come as well and we head up to the last pre-op area. This is the first time that someone has been allowed to go this far with me. Usually there are no non-medical or non-surgical people allowed in this room, but this time most of the people waiting for surgery had someone else there with them.
I don't think the nurses in the pre-op room are used to patients coming up having already had a failed IV start as they weren't really sure if they should start it or what they were supposed to be doing. The anesthesiologist (we'll call her Dr. A as I can't remember her name and she was an anesthesiologist :) )came in and started asking me a lot of questions about my information and then mainly about why I was on a beta blocker. She got quite involved about what my normal resting rate is, did I feel it when it raced etc. She then started asking about the IV start - is it normally hard, was I stressed about it, was I anxious at the moment etc. She was very very nice, she then checked my hands (didn't even look at my arms which showed she trusted my knowledge) and asked the nurses in the pre-op to get me a warm blanket for me to put my hands in and to keep them in the blanket until I got to the OR. My dentist came in and talked to me, another nurse talked to me and after a short while (I heard one nurse say that I couldn't be nervous as I was just sitting there reading while all the doctors came and went lol) they told me it was time to go to the OR.
I got into the OR and all the doctors and nurses introduced themselves to me and told me what their job was that day. One nurse brought me a few blankets so I could put them under my knees (they don't do well straight out for any length of time, my back either) and as Dr. A was looking at my left hand (the same hand the prior nurse blew a vein in) I heard the head nurse read out all my information to the room. When she got to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Type 3, Dr A looked at her and said "Type 3?" then on confirmation nodded like that was a good thing. I was shocked and asked her if she knew what EDS was. She said yes that they were made to go through that when she was studying (she was quite young). I told her that I had only ran into one or two doctors in my home town that knew what EDS was before meeting me. She then rhymed off the main symptoms and then "Am I right?", and she was. The only thing was she said that they were taught that most people were tall and lanky which I laughed and said obviously not. Dr. A then tried to get the IV started in my left hand. She went in and pretty much right back out and said that I did have very tricky veins, and she had never had a failed IV start. She stood there for a moment and then said that we obviously had to go to the other hand (that was still bruised from the bloodwork the week prior) so they started to move all the equipment to the other side and she said she was going to give me some 'happy gas' as it worked to make the veins more open and easy to get (and obviously keep me calm). After I was blissfully floating around she got the IV in the right hand and taped it down massively. A few more adjustments and she started the anesthetic and I was out.
I woke up in the recovery room and asked if I was in pain (nope - they gave me pain killers when I was under the anesthetic) and if i was okay. All I wanted was to get the IV out which they kept telling me would be soon. I got moved to the final post-op area and that's when they let mom in. I was feeling quite nauseaus and told the nurse that but my doctor had not put that I could get anything so they kept saying they had to ask him (he was in surgery all morning). Once mom was in the room I got her to bug the nurses about getting the IV out. Finally one came to do it and mentioned that I must really not like the IV's as normally people dont even notice that they have them until they are fully awake from the anesthetic. I told her that it was very painfull and was causing me a whole lot more than my jaw from the surgery. After drinking a glass of apple juice she finally came to take it out. This is when she noticed that my right hand was already bruised from last week's blood draw and this IV and that my left hand was all taped up because of the two failed IV starts on it. After that was out I was ready to go so they sent mom to get the van while I got dressed and then I was out of there.
Got home and was kinda dizzy but not too bad so went to have a nap. Was very unimpressed with my mom as I had asked her to move my brother's visit to K until the next day but she didn't and figured it didn't matter because I would be sleeping all day (not sure where she got that idea from). So I got to spend a good 1.5 hours sitting in my room doing nothing until he went home. I was tired and still a little groggy but not bad. My jaw was hurting but mainly it was my throat that was really sure from the tube they put down.
Worryingly we think I might have had an adverse reaction to the general anesthetic. Starting tuesday morning all the way until sunday morning I had major stomach issues. Anything I ate just went straight through me and I was starting to get dehydrated and very weak. It seems like that has finally past but we do worry that this is from the general anesthetic. If I start having issues with it, we are in trouble!!!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Dental Surgery
So right now I am watching the end of the MMVA's for something to do. After that I have to go have a quick shower and get to bed as we have to be at the hospital for 6am in the morning! The hospital is 20 minutes away. As far as I know only fillings are going to be done (and I will tell him I do not want extractions - next week is too big to have to deal with the problems following any extractions). My right hand is very bruised up so they can not use it to put the IV in, meaning they only have the option of my left hand and I know they are going to want to use my arm or my wrist but I do not want either of those. I certainly hope that they wait and put the IV in after they have taken me to the OR because IV lines are very painful to me (even though I am constantly told they are not supposed to hurt). I haven't admitted it to anyone here but I am very scared of actually waking up during the surgery like with what happened when I had the scope in January. I am worried that something might go wrong because I was told to bring all my meds with me which they normally don't ask for (I do know that the hospital is going through administration changes and changing a bunch of procedures). I don't have much time to actually recover from this surgery.
I go in tomorrow for the surgery, have Tuesday to recover, driving 4.5 hours on Wednesday and going to a concert / show Wednesday night (The Jackson's!!!!!), staying over then driving back home on Thursday and then Friday we have K's 1/2 birthday (he is a Christmas time baby like me, same date actually). July is quite busy too. Some different opportunities have come up that I do not want to see so even though it's been a few years since I have been to a concert, I will be going to THREE within a month.
Anyways, better wrap this up so I can go and get showered and gather up all the stuff that I need to take with me to the hospital. I will try to update tomorrow night and let you know how it went.
I go in tomorrow for the surgery, have Tuesday to recover, driving 4.5 hours on Wednesday and going to a concert / show Wednesday night (The Jackson's!!!!!), staying over then driving back home on Thursday and then Friday we have K's 1/2 birthday (he is a Christmas time baby like me, same date actually). July is quite busy too. Some different opportunities have come up that I do not want to see so even though it's been a few years since I have been to a concert, I will be going to THREE within a month.
Anyways, better wrap this up so I can go and get showered and gather up all the stuff that I need to take with me to the hospital. I will try to update tomorrow night and let you know how it went.
All Health - MRI, Bloodwork & Dr's
So I never heard back from the OS that I saw back in march so I gave in and called my GP's (Dr.B) office to set up an appointment to have an MRI. I got called back on Monday saying that they were going to schedule the MRI but Dr B needed to do blood work before it was ordered. This left me quite confused as I have had numerous MRI's and never had to have blood work before. Anyways, I go in on Tuesday to get the requisition sheet for the blood work and asked her to add the Vitamin D test on to that as I hadn't had a chance to get it yet. I also had to fill out the forms (Are you claustrophobic? Ever been a metal worker? etc), but when it asked for previous surgeries I asked if they couldn't just print off a sheet as that would be a lot easier (she said since I have had so many MRI's already she didn't think it would be a big deal leaving it blank). So I got all that done and then went to the lab.
So I head down to the lab and J looks up and tells me to take a seat. I haven't seen J in the lab in a long time and usually P is the one that 'takes charge' when I am there. P sees me so they do the man that came in behind me first so they had time to do mine. I go in to the room and hand her my band aids (she kinda just laughed). She waits until J is free and then calls her into the room for help. P gets the butterfly and looks at my right hand. At this point I still had the bruise from the second attempt on the 1st so she couldn't use that spot (even though it's the easiest). She finds her vein and sticks it in and finally finds it after a little digging. She finally gets the vein but it goes slowly. J then looks at me and goes "Your not normally this hard are you?" and P just looked at her and gave her a luck while I laughed. After a while I hear P go "Oh Shit!" and felt the needle being pulled out quickly. That's when she apologized over and over again and said that my hand was going to really bruise and apologized again. I just told her not to worry and that it was okay. Then J goes "We have to do another one" and asked what my other hand was like. I hesitated and said that my left hand might not be a good idea because I have surgery the next Monday and didn't want to loose too many veins. P and J disagreed and P thought they could do both tests and J thought there wasn't enough. I was given a choice of doing another stick then or have the possibility of having to come back to redo the tests. I chose to stop for the day. [Note: This is the Sunday after and I still have a massive bruise on my right hand :S]
That was on Tuesday, my mom had a dr's appointment on Thursday when Dr. B's secretary told my mom that the blood work was in and to have me call her (but I didn't get the message until after the office closed for the day). Then on Friday I got a call from the MRI department saying they had a date on July 7th for my MRI, unfortunately I had to decline that date because we won't be here as we are going out of town. So I go on July 9th at 5pm to get the MRI on my right shoulder. Thankfully the xrays I had done a couple of months ago will be okay so I don't have to get those redone.
So I head down to the lab and J looks up and tells me to take a seat. I haven't seen J in the lab in a long time and usually P is the one that 'takes charge' when I am there. P sees me so they do the man that came in behind me first so they had time to do mine. I go in to the room and hand her my band aids (she kinda just laughed). She waits until J is free and then calls her into the room for help. P gets the butterfly and looks at my right hand. At this point I still had the bruise from the second attempt on the 1st so she couldn't use that spot (even though it's the easiest). She finds her vein and sticks it in and finally finds it after a little digging. She finally gets the vein but it goes slowly. J then looks at me and goes "Your not normally this hard are you?" and P just looked at her and gave her a luck while I laughed. After a while I hear P go "Oh Shit!" and felt the needle being pulled out quickly. That's when she apologized over and over again and said that my hand was going to really bruise and apologized again. I just told her not to worry and that it was okay. Then J goes "We have to do another one" and asked what my other hand was like. I hesitated and said that my left hand might not be a good idea because I have surgery the next Monday and didn't want to loose too many veins. P and J disagreed and P thought they could do both tests and J thought there wasn't enough. I was given a choice of doing another stick then or have the possibility of having to come back to redo the tests. I chose to stop for the day. [Note: This is the Sunday after and I still have a massive bruise on my right hand :S]
That was on Tuesday, my mom had a dr's appointment on Thursday when Dr. B's secretary told my mom that the blood work was in and to have me call her (but I didn't get the message until after the office closed for the day). Then on Friday I got a call from the MRI department saying they had a date on July 7th for my MRI, unfortunately I had to decline that date because we won't be here as we are going out of town. So I go on July 9th at 5pm to get the MRI on my right shoulder. Thankfully the xrays I had done a couple of months ago will be okay so I don't have to get those redone.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Pre-Admission Appointment (Dental Surgery)
I honestly can't remember if I have posted this yet or not (been a busy few weeks health wise!) but I am very lucky in that I will be having my dental surgery on June the 18th! They had a date pop up and I was the first person they thought of so called to set it up. I had the appointment with my family doctor to clear me for surgery last Thursday, had already had the anesthesiologist consult a while ago so all that was left was the pre-admission clinic which was nice and early this morning (at 8:45!! and it takes us at least 20 minutes to get there). We get there, I register and up to the PAC unit we go.
After a short while I get called in to the interview room and must admit that this was the most thorough nurse I have ever come across in the PAC area. I was in with her for over 30 minutes! For some reason my file lists a lot more allergies than I normally write down (about 3 different antibiotics and one medication that neither of us has ever even heard of!) so we had to go through those and I had to go out and ask mom about some reactions to problems I had as a young child. We went through all of my medications and the reasons I am on them. She asked about all my prior surgeries (this is actually going to be my tenth surgery in my life) and all my experiences with anesthetics. She went through my listed disorders (What's EDS? What's Autonomic Dysfunction?) and gave me all of my paperwork to take home. She then was deciding what pre-op testing that I needed done. I told her that I had just had an echo by my cardiologist about a month ago and everything was fine so I didn't have to have the EKG done. She was going over the sheet as to which conditions and disorders warranted having to have bloodwork done. She was slightly stumped on the CNS disorders and whether my ANS disorder would have any similarities but finally it was because I was anemic for years that lead to the yes, you need bloodwork. We finished up and she sent me off to the lab.
I get at the lab and registered and ask if it is possible for them to do my vitamin D level testing at the same time so I could avoid another set of bloodwork but as I did not fast they said it was against their policy (We don't believe that I fasted at the other clinic so will call that lab on Monday to ask). I waited a while and was called back. Nurse #1 (We will call her N1) went over what needed to be done and I told her that I was a very hard stick and when she asked which elbow they usually used I just looked at her and said that they didn't, they use my hand now. For some reason my left hand was swollen (having wrist issues with it lately) so it couldn't be used so after feeling around all over both arms she settles on the right hand between my pointer and middle finger. She goes and gets out a butterfly and settles in to do the stick all the while apologizing for having to use my hand. I tell her that I am always told that but that my hand is a lot less painful than the elbow for me, I barely feel the hand most times. I sit there and feel it go in and then feel digging. That is abnormal because usually it is quite easy in the hand. Then Nurse #2 (N2) enters the room and I hear "Oh you are getting lots of practice today, using a butterfly now and you have a baby up next to learn on". My heart just dropped. She was a student. Now don't get me wrong, I know students have to learn but why on me? It's already hard enough to get me, she even knows that we have very limited areas to try and it was becoming obvious that there was no chance she was going to find a vein. N1 looks at N2 and says that maybe it would be best for N2 to try and did she want to keep that needle in or try a new spot. I spoke up then and said it was hurting so N1 removed the butterfly. Of course as N2 was bandaging me up (and of course I only brought one band aid I was going to end up with tape) N1 had to go and find more butterfly needles. N2 is talking to me and she checks my arms and then asks if I want her to try in the same hand (where else was she going to go????) and I said it was fine. N1 comes back and gives N2 the butterfly so I get another poke, this time between my middle and ring finger, and N2 comments that I have very thick skin to the point it's hard to get the needle in and how unfortunate it is for me to have thick skin and bad veins so I go into the little EDS spiel. I finally ask if N2 has it and she says yes but it is coming slow. Then N1 asks N2 is she needed something and I hear N2 say no, it's stopped now anyway. N2 takes the needle out and asks N1 to get the small 'baby' vials instead of 'adult' vials so not as much blood is needed. All while this is going on both N1 and N2 are apologizing (which is very awkward - I mean what am I supposed to say to that? That's okay I don't mind the torture?). N2 finally tapes me all up and as I am leaving the room she calls out "Sorry we had to poke you twice". I go back into the waiting room and mom is just shaking her head. "I had hoped that they weren't talking to you" she said as she heard the apology for the two pokes.
So we drive home and I go to change the band aid and tape (to get the tape off asap) and notice that the first hole is quite large so not sure what really happened there. I taped them up and went right to bed to sleep for a few hours. Slightly dizzy when I got up but not too bad thankfully. This is the first time that I have actually had two holes on one hand. Usually they try one hand and if they don't get it they go to the other one but because of swelling it was out so I thankfully am going to have one bruised and sore hand in the morning. Plus have to go back again next week to do it again to get my Vitamin D levels checked :S
After a short while I get called in to the interview room and must admit that this was the most thorough nurse I have ever come across in the PAC area. I was in with her for over 30 minutes! For some reason my file lists a lot more allergies than I normally write down (about 3 different antibiotics and one medication that neither of us has ever even heard of!) so we had to go through those and I had to go out and ask mom about some reactions to problems I had as a young child. We went through all of my medications and the reasons I am on them. She asked about all my prior surgeries (this is actually going to be my tenth surgery in my life) and all my experiences with anesthetics. She went through my listed disorders (What's EDS? What's Autonomic Dysfunction?) and gave me all of my paperwork to take home. She then was deciding what pre-op testing that I needed done. I told her that I had just had an echo by my cardiologist about a month ago and everything was fine so I didn't have to have the EKG done. She was going over the sheet as to which conditions and disorders warranted having to have bloodwork done. She was slightly stumped on the CNS disorders and whether my ANS disorder would have any similarities but finally it was because I was anemic for years that lead to the yes, you need bloodwork. We finished up and she sent me off to the lab.
I get at the lab and registered and ask if it is possible for them to do my vitamin D level testing at the same time so I could avoid another set of bloodwork but as I did not fast they said it was against their policy (We don't believe that I fasted at the other clinic so will call that lab on Monday to ask). I waited a while and was called back. Nurse #1 (We will call her N1) went over what needed to be done and I told her that I was a very hard stick and when she asked which elbow they usually used I just looked at her and said that they didn't, they use my hand now. For some reason my left hand was swollen (having wrist issues with it lately) so it couldn't be used so after feeling around all over both arms she settles on the right hand between my pointer and middle finger. She goes and gets out a butterfly and settles in to do the stick all the while apologizing for having to use my hand. I tell her that I am always told that but that my hand is a lot less painful than the elbow for me, I barely feel the hand most times. I sit there and feel it go in and then feel digging. That is abnormal because usually it is quite easy in the hand. Then Nurse #2 (N2) enters the room and I hear "Oh you are getting lots of practice today, using a butterfly now and you have a baby up next to learn on". My heart just dropped. She was a student. Now don't get me wrong, I know students have to learn but why on me? It's already hard enough to get me, she even knows that we have very limited areas to try and it was becoming obvious that there was no chance she was going to find a vein. N1 looks at N2 and says that maybe it would be best for N2 to try and did she want to keep that needle in or try a new spot. I spoke up then and said it was hurting so N1 removed the butterfly. Of course as N2 was bandaging me up (and of course I only brought one band aid I was going to end up with tape) N1 had to go and find more butterfly needles. N2 is talking to me and she checks my arms and then asks if I want her to try in the same hand (where else was she going to go????) and I said it was fine. N1 comes back and gives N2 the butterfly so I get another poke, this time between my middle and ring finger, and N2 comments that I have very thick skin to the point it's hard to get the needle in and how unfortunate it is for me to have thick skin and bad veins so I go into the little EDS spiel. I finally ask if N2 has it and she says yes but it is coming slow. Then N1 asks N2 is she needed something and I hear N2 say no, it's stopped now anyway. N2 takes the needle out and asks N1 to get the small 'baby' vials instead of 'adult' vials so not as much blood is needed. All while this is going on both N1 and N2 are apologizing (which is very awkward - I mean what am I supposed to say to that? That's okay I don't mind the torture?). N2 finally tapes me all up and as I am leaving the room she calls out "Sorry we had to poke you twice". I go back into the waiting room and mom is just shaking her head. "I had hoped that they weren't talking to you" she said as she heard the apology for the two pokes.
So we drive home and I go to change the band aid and tape (to get the tape off asap) and notice that the first hole is quite large so not sure what really happened there. I taped them up and went right to bed to sleep for a few hours. Slightly dizzy when I got up but not too bad thankfully. This is the first time that I have actually had two holes on one hand. Usually they try one hand and if they don't get it they go to the other one but because of swelling it was out so I thankfully am going to have one bruised and sore hand in the morning. Plus have to go back again next week to do it again to get my Vitamin D levels checked :S
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