The Long Overdue Update

It’s no secret that I haven’t posted on here in almost a month, so this post may turn out to be fairly lengthy. The reason I haven’t been posting has little to do with trying to withhold information or keep loved ones in the dark and has everything to do with time management. Not just time management, but also a lack of updates.  The only development is that my GI bleed returned on September 10th and lasted about 36 hours this time.  As you can imagine, I was more anxious than ever for my procedure and to finally get some answers!

My previous post was about the “standstill” my hematologist and GI had me on. Because of that, little has changed this last month. All of my medications remained the same and my platelets hovered between 80 and 90 (my manual count was 86 on August 30th and 90 on September 13th), as the doctor had expected. He is sure now more than ever that this will be my version of “normal”. My hemoglobin fluctuated a little during September, dropping to 11.7 on the 13th (down from 12.3 on August 30th and 13.4 the time before). The hematologist wasn’t concerned at all. He said as long as my platelets remain above 40 and my hemoglobin stays above 10, no further actions or treatments are necessary.

I finally had my procedure today (it was originally scheduled for last Friday, but the doctor had a conference she needed to attend). I arrived at the hospital at 3:15 and went up to the Day Surgery floor to check in. The receptionist looked my info up in the computer system only to find that it didn’t match my personal information. My GI’s staff must have typed my info into the hospital’s system wrong. They had my first and last name right. My birthday, city, state, and zip code were correct, as well. Unfortunately, my middle initial, SSN, street address, and year of birth were incorrect. This caused delays when I tried to check in and, because it made it difficult to confirm my identity, almost caused my procedure to be cancelled or rescheduled. All I can figure is that my doctor’s staff had two patient files open and accidentally typed half of each into the hospital’s patient portal. I have to imagine someone else also had an inaccurate record as a result of this. The biggest error was that my DOB had me listed as 16, which is an entire decade different than my actual age.

Once things were finally straightened out (it took some arguing and waiting), the nursing staff called me back to the pre-op area to go over my medical history, get a urine sample, and have me change into a hospital gown and lock up my valuables. The nurse began quickly running through my medical history – conditions, medications, allergies, etc – to make sure everything was accurate. I’m so glad she did because there was NOTHING listed. For any of it. Turns out, a rep from the Day Surgery center normally calls the patient (or the patient’s legal guardian) the week before the procedure to gather this information. I never received this call because the system had me listed as 16 and they didn’t have any contact information for my parents. Awkward. That certainly could have saved me some time today. Oh well.

Once I finished with my pre-op assessment, I changed into the hospital gown, locked up my purse, gave my husband a kiss, and laid down in the stretcher. A medical assistant wheeled me to the elevator and down to the endoscopy wing for my procedure. My GI walked alongside the stretcher and explained the procedure to me – what to expect, how long it should take, etc. Down in the endoscopy wing, I met with the anesthesiologist and his assistant to run through my medical info one more time while my GI made sure everything was ready to go in the room. They wheeled the stretcher into the room, placed the IV, gave me an oxygen mask to breath into, and started the anesthesia.

I woke up an hour later (around 6PM) in the recovery room, which was essentially just a long, wide hallway with beds lining the walls and curtains separating patients. The first thing I noticed was that I had an IV in my hand. I was confused because I knew they had placed the original IV in my arm. I was still awake when that happened. I looked down and noticed my forearm was covered in dried blood. According to the nurses, the anesthesiologist claimed that I “wiggled” while sedated and it caused the IV to come loose. They placed the second one in case they needed to give me anything else during the procedure. After I asked about the IV, I fell back asleep. I was in and out of consciousness for the next hour or so as the anesthesia wore off.

Thankfully, my husband was there when my doctor explained the preliminary results of my procedure, since I don’t remember anything she said. Anesthesia is completely disorienting. According to my husband, the doctor found nothing out of the ordinary. She took a few biopsies (in case there was something there that she couldn’t see) and told me to schedule a follow up appointment for next week to get the results. Then, the nurses who assisted on my procedure told me that I had to stay in the hospital recovery room for THREE hours for observation (due to my sleep apnea). Everyone around me that woke up just had to be able to swallow a Saltine and a sip of water and then they were free to go. What was I going to do for three hours?! I spent most of the time staring at the ceiling.

Luckily, the nurses were pretty efficient. They felt bad that I had to stay later than expected, so they had my husband bring my clothes to me at 8:30 so I could change early, they had the discharge papers ready to sign right at 9:00, and they had a wheelchair and escort waiting to bring me out the front doors by 9:01. Overall, my experience wasn’t as terrifying as I was afraid it was going to be. I will say, though, that I’m SO glad it’s over. Hopefully the biopsies come back completely normal. My GI thinks the symptom I was having (it occurred again in early September) is because of the ITP. I’m going to run this theory by my hematologist at tomorrow’s appointment and see what he thinks.