Wednesday, January 18, 2012

An Affair To Forget



This post is really about Mae Dean but certainly affected both of our lives for nine days of hospitalization and is still affecting both of our lives. The closest happening I can think of that is similar is a very bad dream. But, dreams are not real. At the time, they seem real, but eventually one wakes up and realizes it was only a dream.

Here's the story line. You have made plans to have a routine colonoscopy procedure just because you cannot come up with enough information from the one you had several years ago. You cannot remember the doctor's name who performed the procedure and only remember very little details as to the results of it. Some people really get "up tight" when they have to have one or are told they should have one, but that was not how I felt about it. I guess I thought it was a necessary evil as one ages. They told me I should have another one in 10 years. With that being all I recalled, my primary physician and I agreed that it would be good to just go ahead and have one for the record.

On Monday, January 9, I went in to have this done. They put you out while it is in progress and when you wake up, it's over. This went according to plan, but, at some point, early in the procedure, something went wrong. A surgeon was called in to make sure things were handled in the safest way possible, so when I awoke, I was in a hospital room. Apparently I had even been in ICU for a time. Here's where this is not my experience alone but one shared with WD. I would not want to change places with him because, although both of us were helpless to control the outcome (and still are), I would not envy anyone who found themselves in a situation over which they had no control and just wait. We waited for 9 days before the doctors were satisfied to discharge me from the hospital.

I do understand they were waiting for certain things to occur before they discharged me. It was very apparent they were covering all possible bases as to things that might need attention and could cause problems.

Other than one person who was a nurse or what I'll call a nurse assistant, I find no fault with any of the hospital employees.

Even though I have titled this "An Affair To Forget," I will never forget it and have determined it is not wise to call any medical procedure "routine."

4 comments:

  1. Mabel ClarkJanuary 26, 2012

    I am glad you are now discharged from the hospital and at home. Take care! Mabel

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  2. UPDATE: The light at the end of the tunnel on this not-so-good-way-to-start-a-new-year appears to be around April or May or later. With that hope hangin' out there when my life can return to "normal," I can look forward to becoming healthier and healthier until I even have hopes of eventually being healthier than I was before January 9th of 2012.

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  3. Now that it's June, I hope your wish has come true!

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  4. Nancy, it's July now. On July 2, Daddy would have been 99. Maybe one of these years I'll find my letters Daddy wrote me while I was in college, and I'll feature them on one of the blogs. I've already featured one particular letter on my personal blog http://maedeans.blogspot.com/2008/08/special-sentimental-letter.html To really respond to your hope for me and my wish, it is now over 6 weeks since the ostomy closure surgery, and I'm doing my best to return to my normal activities before January 9. I'm still weighing 20 pounds less than before this began, but when I look in the mirror sideways, I have to conclude that the only adjustment I need is to move the bulge in the front to the back, and it would be about right :)

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