Well, the up-shot of this exam is that my larynx, or vocal cords don't completely close, which allows a little bit of fluid to start to enter my Trachea. One thing I learned was that the Larynx developed not so we can talk or sing, but to protect our Lungs from foreign matter, and to get our food and beverage into our stomachs. This probably also explains why I got kicked out of the school choir in the 6th Grade! So, his suggested treatment was a heavily restricted diet and Prilosec or Omeprozole. So that's no citrus, no onions, no tomatoes, no onions, no chocolate, AND NO CAFFEINE!!! - as if I'm not already having enough trouble eating... I think the "no coffee" is gonna be the hardest. There goes my love affair with my Keurig.
August 28th, Cardio Cath, Moanaloa, Oahu - Dr. Pam Gordon. OK, this was one of the biggies, and meant a trip to Oahu and I needed to have a Companion, which had originally been planned to be Amanda, as she's up on all the Med sh*t, and actually cares. However a mandatory change in her Nursing schedule meant Plan-B. (Trumpet call please...) Thank you Anne Wall for stepping up and being willing to come along for the ride.
Never mind having to get up a 4:30am to get to the Airport in time for the first flight, then the first shuttle and to get to the Clinic at 8:00am so I could slip in a quick "Simple Pulmonary Test." Like the name implies, this was pretty simple. They hook you up to a Pulse Oxymeter and you proceed to walk back a forth down a 50' corridor, with on nurse monitoring you Oxygen levels and another counting the laps. At the end of 6 minutes they sit you down, check you vitals, and in my case, hook you up to Oxygen until you're back up to 97+ percent.
Next it's up to the 4th floor to check-in for the biggie! After not to long a wait, they take me in, show me a bed and hand me a gown. After they get an IV hooked up (oh yes, there's always an IV) ask about 20+ questions and explain for the 6th time what's going to happen, the rather cheery Nurse decides to take over for the rather grumpy one, and starts to Prep me. In plain English that means shave me from navel to mid-thigh, on BOTH sides... just in case they need to try a different artery. Oh yea! Now that I'm all set to go, of course they couldn't find the Doctor... Two hours later they discover the Doc's not lost, she was just attending to an Emergency Pacemaker installation, and as
soon as the OR was cycled, I'd be all ready to go... Oh yea, again!So, long story short, they did get me in, gave me some marvelous drugs so I pretty much missed everything, and then came to back in the recovery room... with a male nurse pretty much doing hand presses on my left groin... making sure my artery closed... While cheery Nurse is back reminding me to lie flat and not move. After about a half hour, the male nurse relaxes a bit, and I notice him grabbing for "something" sticking out of my groin... and thank the Lord have the awareness to close my eyes and hold my breath, as he pulls out the arterial catheter. Whew, so glad I missed that. Well, then he's back at the pressure thing again... another half hour and this time I miss as he grabs for the venal catheter, and much to my chagrin find myself transfixed while he pulls that one out... OMG, for a moment I thought I was gonna lose it... but not, a little deep breathing, a couple "oh sh*ts" and I was fine.
All in all it wasn't that big a deal, and other than being a few hours late, needing to change flight reservations and arrange for a Taxi, NBD. Anne was quite the trouper, helped to see that I was both still and well cared for, and did a great job of hiding the fact that she was probably bored to tears!
This is as good a stopping point in this chapter as any... until next time - CIAO!
"I now know that things I always thought I could depend on can crash in an instant. Because of the love that I have been shown, I now know what it means to be 'beloved.' I now know that no breath is to be taken for granted." - Rebecca Wells
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