Tales of the VA, again

Because I know how entertaining my blog is, I give you: a new VA report! Or, how I spent time between the DAV van dropping me off on Tuesday morning, and taking me home on Thursday afternoon.

I had my blood tests drawn Tuesday morning, then found that the procedure had been moved to Thursday morning. That meant I had nothing to do at all on Wednesday, other than listen to the cds of The Da Vinci Code and play computer games. Tuesday, I managed somehow to get the laptop back to operating in normal mode. I had it going in safe mode Monday night, and decided to take it with me and work on it when I had nothing else to do. I booted it up in safe mode, took some old software off it, and restarted it. It actually came up normally! Only bad thing was that I had no Wi-fi access in hospital, and I no longer have any dialup software. So I played some computer games I had downloaded onto a cd, and that kept me entertained when I got tired of reading about making altered books and selling on ebay. (Other things I checked from the library.)

The hoptel facilities are spartan, but nice. The rooms are on the top (fifth) floor of the bed tower, in a wing to themselves. I was lucky enough to get an end room that did not share a toilet/shower with another. These rooms are the same as the patient rooms, except there are electronic key locks on the doors, and no one bothers you (nursing staff) all night long. If there were a need for overflow rooms, these would be pressed into service. They are available for veterans who have tests that take several days, or who depend on the DAV vans to get them to the facility and come back for them another day. The room I had was a double, having a regular twin bed and one hospital bed in it. Usually, that would have some old man and his wife there. ; ) But since there were no singles open, I got it. There was a view of the courtyard below, and the rooftops across from me. Not too exciting, but you could see sky, and it was quiet. I cranked the air conditioning down to about 68 degrees and enjoyed my solitude.

The hoptel also gives you meal tickets redeemable in the hospital kitchen. There is no choice to what you get, but there is plenty of food, and it's balanced. There was a pint of very cold milk with every meal, and that made me happy. About the only thing I didn't eat during the three days was the potato/corn chowder. It was terribly bland. Otherwise, I was fine with the choices. Food is food!

I had to be at the ambulatory clinic at 0630, freshly showered, the notice said. ; ) I had gathered all my things up the night before, packed away the computer and had everything in my handy-dandy Roots rollabout bag and was down there at 0615. No one else around, and the sign said: Clinic opens at 0630, take a seat in the waiting area. I did.

About 0640, someone opened the door, and we all queued up to hand in our papers for the day's event. We received our plastic wristbands, and were told to go back out to the waiting room. Tick. Tock. We all waited. Old men swapped war stories. Their elderly wives slept or played their word games in little books. I watched the morning news about the big steampipe explosion in New York City. Yawn.

Eventually, some of us were called back to the staging area. It was 0830 when I was summoned, and told to strip completely and put on that typical flaptail gown. I was shown to my bed, layered with the sheet and blankets. I immediately threw the blankets to one side, being as hot natured as I am. Three people tried to put them back on me, insisting I MUST be cold. I insisted right back that I was not; the sheet was plenty of cover for me. The nurse came to check my vitals, then put in the IV port in the back of my hand. She got it on the very first try. I was very grateful, and told her so. She said she had veins just like mine, and she knew how badly she hated it when people go fishing around.

Within about ten minutes, the escort came to roll me and the gurney to surgery. We took the service elevator down, but then we went to the first floor where I was rolled down some of the main corridors. I had forgotten that this would be done in the main x-ray lab, under the big fluoroscope machines. I was parked in a back corridor, outside the x-ray room. The equipment looked foreboding; I have never been back in this part of the lab before.

I got very anxious. Usually, I hold my own, but this time, I was shaking. Not because I was cold, because I was anything but. The nurse came out to talk to me, and said the doctor was not there yet. (Surprise, surprise.) She tried once again to put the blankets on me, but I was actually sweating. She reassured me that this was a common procedure, and I acknowledged that I was sure it was for them, but it wasn't for me, and I was a bit scared. Shortly the doctor came out, and he was fabulous! Not only nice looking, but extremely good at explaining the procedure to me and why certain things are done certain ways. It made me feel somewhat better, but I could not stop myself from shaking.

They transferred me from the gurney onto the table, which had a place for the shoulders and head that made the head a little lower than the shoulders. The nurse put a paper cap on my head, then explained to me that they would need to tape my head so that I would be looking slightly to my left to hyperextend my neck. She used an ultrasound to determine if my carotid artery was clear (it was), and then put the blood pressure cuff on my left arm. Time for the show.

The doc came in again, he told me it would take about an hour, but it wouldn't seem that long because I would be out most of the time, but only with a local because he would ask me to hold my breath at some point when he was inserting the portacath, and I would need to be responsive enough for that. I said pour that crazy sauce to me, and let's do it.

I remember just a little, and mostly it was some pain when they were putting pressure on my chest. I also remember the doctor telling me to breathe deeply, because I was sobbing, and he was having a bit of trouble getting the sutures in me. Oh, well, it was over by that point.

The escort was called to take me to chemo where they do my iron infusions every week. I'm one of the few people who come in there that doesn't have cancer, and that fact is never lost on me. I got my iron, and lunch was brought in, and I was taken back down to ambulatory surgery when it was all done. They kept me until 2:30PM, and got me ready to go back on the DAV van. Everyone was ready to go when I arrived at the bed tower lobby.

The van driver took me to the dealership and dropped me off there because Dan is there by himself this week. (His co-worker is off to Hawaii to get married.) We got home around six, and Dan ordered a spinach alfredo pizza that was wonderful. By then, the local anesthesia had worn off, and I had to take a Percocet. I propped myself up in bed so the cats wouldn't lay all over me, and crashed.

I woke up around 0300 and had to take another pain pill. The cats were all lined up on the bed, and were being very nice about staying out of my face. I went back to bed, and didn't wake up until nearly noon Friday. The pain was back, and I repeated the treatment, and went back to bed. I woke again at nearly five, and got up to watch a little tv and eat a little something. I wasn't up too long until I needed more pain meds and back to bed I went. I've been good for nothing all day Saturday as well. At least I did get a shower and wash my hair today. That is a bit of comfort.

Next appointment is Tuesday, so I will find out how things are going then.