Thursday, December 06, 2007

Demerol Daze and Zombie Nurses

Every day brings some improvement in my condition, and later this afternoon I will go to the doctor to have the staples removed from my belly and for a check-up, etc. I was going to post a picture of the three staples in my navel and call it "Temporary Triple Navel Piercing", but it was really much too gruesome to share. ;-) The surgeon did that laproscopic surgery to remove what was left of my appendix and whatever else he did in there (I'll get more details today, I hope), so instead of one large incision there are three small ones. I'm uncertain that there is any advantage to that because the pain has been equal to if not greater than the one large incision I got when having babies and a hysterectomy. Maybe it has to do with the nature of the illness/injury and other factors.

One weird irony is that when my mom was 43 her appendix ruptured, but she ended up in the hospital for a whole month because of it. I think I can thank improved surgical and antibiotic treatments for my much shorter hospital stay. Twenty-one years of medical advancements have made a lot of difference!

I'm sure the nurses hated me because I was very whiny and tearful. But I guess they are used to such things and don't think about it so much. Well, it really does suck to be in constant pain and have the other inconveniences and indignities one suffers when incapacitated in a hospital bed. My IV was in the crook of my right arm so that every time I bent my arm the IV machine beeped and beeped and beeped and beeped. Very annoying for us all, but apparently that was the best vein they could find for it. Both of my hands are bruised from where they played pin the needle to the vein to draw blood for testing white blood counts, etc. I have those 'rolling' veins that means one stick usually won't do the trick. Add to that the 30+ Demerol/Phenergan injections in my hips over the five days and it's enough to really call myself a human pin cushion. On Saturday my first IV finally blew so they had to put a new one in the soft underside of my forearm. Talk about painful! But at least I could move without that incessant beeping.

I had lots of weird dreams during my demerol daze and dozing. One was about a black hole sucking us all up and some others I just can't recall now. But they were weird for sure. At one point I was half awake and a nurse was there I and thought she was a zombie. Her hands were ice cold and smelled like a morgue, or at least what I thought a morgue would smell like. It could have been myself that I was smelling because it had been a few days since I'd had more than a slight sponge bath, but who knows? She also had on what I'd call zombie makeup: dark, exaggerated eyeliner and eye shadow. She was a fine nurse, I'm sure, but in my demerol daze she really did frighten me a little.

There are some other events that are just too graphic and gross to share. But I will say that my psyche is still somewhat bruised by that whole experience. However, I am extremely thankful for modern medicine that has saved my life again. If I were a cat, I'd have used up about half of my nine lives now. I'm also very thankful for my husband who apparently still loves me even though he's seen me at my absolute worst. I've been a lot of trouble for him over the years, but he doesn't seem fazed by it. Yet. I really hope not to ever put him through such things again.

So that's just a little summary of my last week. I hope everyone else's has been much less eventful and stressful. And let's all say a prayer of thanks for the modern technologies that we sometimes take for granted. The only worry now is how in the world are we going to pay for it? ;-)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That’s a great medical story Rae Ann. But my all time favorite is about men passing kidney stones. You don’t even know what pain is Honey.

Rae Ann said...

LOL, Mr. Degner, you think you're so clever? Well, even in my compromised condition you're no match for me. I know pain. And I could really enjoy introducing you to it as well. ;-) But sorry to disappoint you, but I won't be coming to Anchorage any time soon.

Anonymous said...

that's one butt too many Rae Ann.

Anonymous said...

I now realize that’s two butt’s too many. Can you step in the river once? Twice?

Rae Ann said...

Degner you are a truly foul piece of excrement and the only reason I'm leaving your comments here is so that everyone can see just how it looks when something as yourself harrasses someone who's been seriously ill.

Anonymous said...

Who's f-in Degner, you dumb hoe?

Sabine Hossenfelder said...

Hi Rae Ann,

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Doesn't your health insurance cover for the expenses?

Something different regarding these truly disgusting comments above. I am pretty much fed up with anonymous comments on my blog. It's an incredible waste of time, and I have absolutely no, zero, null, niente understanding for people who use anonymity without need to. I mean, I certainly understand that in some situations it is necessary, but I think the whole online community tolerates too much of it. It completely disrupts any sensible communication, trust and human exchange, and it only supports people's worst behaviour. I'm not yet sure what conclusion to draw from it. We are about to move the blog and I think about having a white list of people who can comment (if they want with pseudonyms), no anonymous commenters. Best,

B.

Rae Ann said...

Hi Bee, thanks, and yes, the insurance will cover some of it, but we have a very large deductible amount (out of pocket) in order to keep our monthly premiums affordable. So, after that is reached the insurance is supposed to cover 80% at least, but they always find ways of disqualifying some claims so that we end up having to pay them. I'm expecting our total out of pocket expense for this to be in the area of $10,000, but I could be off either way. I'll let you know when all the bills come in. ;-)

As for anonymous comments, yes, I agree with you and might ban them now. What amazes me is that these people are too stupid to realize that their locations are easily identified with sitemeter, etc. My volume of visitors is low enough that it's easy to match up the comments with the stats. FYI, the one above is Anchorage Alaska
45-132-58-66.gci.net
(66.58.132.45) which is the same one that "David Degner" has used here and there from time to time. I have no problem revealing an anonymous's identity if he is abusive. And really, I do realize in this case in particular he's just angry that a "dumb hoe" is smarter than he is. ;-)

Anonymous said...

You're utterly wrong about me Rae Ann. I find the fact you are smarter than me incredibly humorous and I also am incapable of anger, although I would like to spank you, really hard.

Anonymous said...

“OK Mr. Degner, I see you have put down the olive branch. But would you really like to spank me and hard?”

“I would Rae Ann!”

“You’re a little sick aren’t you?”

“With an open hand, XXL, and on your bare bottom Honey.”

“My hubbie would object, butt maybe?”

“And I do hope you’re recovering from your appendectomy. I have had gut pain so bad it required EMS to the ER twice in a day. I thought at one point I would black out from pain. And the first thing they do is stick about 4 or 5 needles in you. There is maybe nothing worse, although I haven’t had the experience yet of living out all life’s medical horrors. I fear kidney stones worse than eternal Hell. If only I can die without pain I’ll call it a success.”

Guy said...

Hi Rae,
Sweet sunshine playing from beneath the edge of clouds. Dripping water echoing in a milk can. A flight of ducks winging overhead in the autumn twilight.

Crows cawing at snow covered ridge lines while cats play in the apple trees.

Warm chocolate milk in mitten'd hands.

Be well.