the good, the bad, and the ugly....
november 4: the big day
My parents came down for Thursday and Friday. They were supposed to be there around 10, which means they were there at 8:30. Scott and I were just getting up. Scott and I showered and did some stuff around the house and left around 10:30. I was registered at the hospital around 11. I tell ya, nothing's secret. The computers knew everything about me! We were shuffled into another waiting room for a little while then into my room for the day. Five nurses swarmed in to weigh me, take my temperature and blood pressure, give me a lovely hospital gown and start the IV. My left forearm is still all green and bruise-y (as of the 8th) from the IV. It took two nurses and four tries to get one in that didn't hurt. Nurse A tried twice and couldn't get my veins to stay in one place. She called Super IV Nurse who got one in on the first try. I could feel it. Then it hurt. Really bad. "TAKE IT OUT!" The IV ended up being on the inside of my wrist. I tried to keep my wrist straight so the IV wouldn't do anything weird.
1:00 p.m. - The actual procedure was nothing big. I was wheeled down to an ultrasound room where my doctor was. (This was when I started to cry because I was so nervous.) Once there a nurse put an automatic blood pressure thing and other sensors on me. My doctor thumped and poked at my side to guesstimate where my liver was then another doc ultrasounded my side to verify where it was and how far in the liver was. Dr. G. asked me if I wanted drugs (stupid question). I started to get nervous as I was being wheeled down so the drugs were very welcome. So, with happy drugs coursing through my blood, Dr. G gave me a local: some at the surface and more deep down at my liver (which hurt more than the actual biopsy). She told me to breathe in and out and hold it... and it was done. She slapped on a band-aid and rolled me on my side. I asked to see what she sucked out. It was about 2 1/2 inches long and thicker than a hair but thinner than spaghetti floating in a jar of saline (or whatever they float liver tissue in). A very good sample (according to the doc and nurse). Everyone asks whether I saw the needle or not. Well, I did, after the fact. It was pretty huge!
Scott and my mom had pretty much just arrived in the waiting room on that floor when they saw that I was being wheeled back to my room (that's how fast it was). I was really tired (better living through drugs) and, I think, a little in shock. I was really drowsy but couldn't sleep. So I laid there. On my side. Yawn. Once back to my room, I got some lunch (which I had to eat while laying on my side - see the theme here?). I was famished because I couldn't eat anything after midnight the night before. Cardboard would have tasted good!
After about 1 1/2 hours, my side started to hurt. I called my nurse who rolled me over and adjusted the sheet and my gown from under me and I was OK for a little while. I had to stay on my right side for four hours. (I never sleep on my right side. I sleep either on my stomach or I move often.) Around 5:00 I started to have severe pain (not to mention having to go to the bathroom - two IV bags were dripped into me during the course of the day and I hadn't gone since 12:45). I wasn't supposed to move (so I didn't) but it hurt so bad. I called the nurse (who, then, called my doctor) and we had to wait for her. She (Dr. G) explained that she was hoping I wouldn't have any pain but as soon as I was on my back (and had some happy pills :^) ), the pain was gone. Both times I had bad pain, I think it was just from, basically, laying on a giant, deep bruise.
I was able to go home that night (the nurses thought I might have to stay overnight) with a prescription for Vicodin and, after a light supper and some TV, I went to bed. I had heard that Vicodin is a pretty good drug but I only took 1. I have six more at home! I'm not sure what to do with them. I'll probably flush 'em.
As I was leaving, Dr. G. told me to call on Tuesday to get my test results and to see if I need to make an appointment with her.
otherwise
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