In Sickness and Health Part 2 b

So for the second night in a row we were heading out of the house late at night with a bucket. Bud had only slept about 4 hours in the last 36 hours. The hospital was in an unfamiliar part of town for us, and the area wasn't well lit, we could see the ER doors but couldn't figure out how to drive up to them. I was calm but Bud was freaking out (a preview to drives to the hospital in labor) so he opted to 4 wheel through the empty lots rather than drive around anymore.

My doctor had called ahead so as soon as we walked in the intake people sat us down to sign papers. While I was filling out paperwork my doctor came in the door, gave me a hug and informed me the "team" was on the way. I had a team! It was very comforting, and the fastest I have ever been through the ER. The dr informed the front desk Bud could finish my paper work and he took me back to prep for surgery. I was immediately changed into a gown and given a (terrible) IV. ( I am a total wimp about IV's.) We took this opportunity to call my mom and brother to let them know what was going on. My dr said the surgery would probably take 20 minutes, so Bud told my mom it was up to her if she wanted to come. It was 1:00 am by this point and she doesn't like to drive.

I was wheeled off to the OR, the anesthesiologist took one look at my IV and asked "who the hell did this to her arm?". He patted me on the arm and said "don't worry honey, I will fix this for you." I don't normally enjoy people being all patty, and huggy and calling me terms of affection, but in this case it was really reassuring. Then they started the drugs and the nurse told me to count back from 100 and put the palms of her hands on my neck and pressed down. Just before passing out I thought, damn they are in some kind of hurry.

When I woke up I begged for some carmex for my super dry lips. That is my tip for anyone going to the hospital, take carmex. The nurses slapped a ton on me and I loved them. I saw Bud and mom on my way to the room, they each held my hand for a minute, but weren't allowed in my room because it was the middle of the night. I kept waking up the rest of the night and would see one of the two of them peeking in my door to check on me. I found out later that they avoided looking at a clock during the surgery, finally when they did look they realized I had been in surgery for 90 minutes. Shortly after that my dr came out and told them I had 13 spots in my throat that were bleeding. The would cauterize one spot and move on to another, then another would start up again. Finally, after an hour and a half they got all but one to stop. The decision was to wake me up, and keep me from having any food or liquid for 6 days. Ok, maybe it was just five hours. But I had been drinking 12-15 bottles of water each day. That was the longest thirstiest 5 hours of my life. They gave me some of those damp spongey things to suck on, but those were no relief. I was told I would go through a few tests the next day.