Went to Wichita late morning for my procedure. I showed up at the wrong place. I never did receive my pre-op instructions and when the lady called to schedule it she didn’t say where I was having it. There is an out patient facility next to my doctor’s office so I assumed I was going there.
Luckily I showed up 15 minutes early and the place I needed to be at was 10 minutes away. The lady at the desk started telling me instructions but I don’t know Wichita and they meant nothing to me. Thank heavens for GPS.
We got to the place on time. I had to fill out paper work. They asked if I had any family history and gave me about two inches of space to write it. Since I was going in for tummy issues I didn’t write anything assuming they were wondering about those types of family issues.
After I did the initial paperwork someone from admissions came and I had to sign my life away. She really didn’t explain what I was signing and I didn’t ask.
We went to a different waiting room and then a nurse came out and took me back. She was efficient and got the IV on the first poke. They even put it in my right hand as I had to lay on my left side for the procedure. Usually I have to ask to have them put it in my right hand. Since I had on elastic waisted pants, I didn’t even have to take them off.
After she got me ready she went and got Kathy and brought her back. I asked the nurse to help Kathy find me and then to be sure to take her back to the waiting room as she would get lost otherwise.
We only waited for about ten minutes before they came to get me to take me to the OR. The nurse that took me back, stopped and took Kathy to the waiting room instead of just giving directions. I appreciated that.
Got to the OR and it didn’t take them long to knock me out. Man is that room cold! Next thing I knew I was in recovery.
I woke up and no one was around. A nurse finally came in and said oh, you are awake already. She went and got Kathy and brought her back.
We had to wait about 15 minutes for the doctor to show up. He told me I had some sort of trauma to my pancreas years ago. The trauma had caused a stone to form and block a duct. About 1/2 of my pancreas is dead but luckily you only need about 1/3 of it to be OK. The only trauma I can think of is way back in high school I took a basketball to my gut area. It hit hard enough it left an imprint of the ball’s ridges on my stomach. I also fell off of a horse about that same time frame. Other than that, I don’t remember any trauma to my gut.
He did say my stomach looked angry so he took some biopsy pieces of it. Everything else looked good. His office is going to call me to schedule a colonoscopy but he said it wasn’t urgent.
He also told me the stool test I had done earlier this week came back normal with my results higher than normal which means my pancreas is creating plenty of enzymes to digest my food. The pancreas is not what is causing any of my tummy issues.
After he left, I got dressed and we were out of there. We were home a little after 4:00. Way earlier than I had expected we would be.
I’ve eaten a sandwich and I think I might go lay down for a bit. Not feeling any pain except for a bit of a sore throat which they told me would happen. Overall it was an easy procedure and by tomorrow I should be good to go.
The hospital where we went was efficient, small and all the people I encountered were pleasant. Overall it was a pleasant experience and much easier than anticipated.
I will rest the rest of the day and be good to go tomorrow.
Grateful for a safe procedure, grateful for the compassionate care I received today, and grateful Kathy was able to drive me home safely.