I'm Switched!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I have been enjoying time with my family

and trying to catch up on school work with our son (home school) He had most of

last week off because I just didn't feel like diving into the books. My DH took

the week off and has been treating me like a baby. I love it! This is sooo

rare.

I went to NYC alone for the surgery and was VERY scared. Transportation and

financial issues prevented my family from accompanying me. However, my surgery

went great! I was SO GLAD to wake up! I was ready to jump off the table and

dance a jig!

and Sheryl came to see me that evening. It was great to have

company. Thank you so much. I had a great roommate and was thankful to have

someone to chat with. It passed the time.

I don't feel that I had a tremendous amout of pain. I used the pain pump when

needed and found that if I wanted to nap, all I had to do was hit that button

and ZZZZZ lights out for about an hour. I found that a great way to pass the

time also.

Most of my stay was OK. Only two instances really stick out in my mind as

horrible.

1. The Leak Test

Nothing to drink until it was done. By the time they got their a$$e$ in gear

to get it done it was after 2:00 the next day. My first drink was at 4:00pm. I

was never so thirsty in my whole life! I could barely swallow because my throat

was so dry. Thanks to and her DH for coming to my rescue. They gave

me a package of mouth swab things. Not the best tasting but better than

nothing! Then a great night nurse snuck me ice chips. All the other nurses

kept saying, " Your chart says, nothing by mouth until the test " . Dr.Pomp said

I could have ice in recovery, but it was never put in the computer so those

instructions didn't follow me upstairs.

They could have done the leak test with much less pain on my part.

Transferring from one gurney to another was a killer. I would have much

preferred them to stand the machine up (It does) have me step on and then lay

it back.

The radiologist lost grip on the (over head screen?) and it crashed (felt like

a crash to me) onto my sore belly. Then in an atempt to remove it quickly, she

abruptly pushed it back....dragging the weighted sheilds (felt like small flat

sand bags) across my now REALLY SORE belly, profusely apologizing the whole

time. Needless to say, tears were streaming down my face. The assistant tried

to coax me off the table horizontally, but I insisted that she stand the machine

up so I could just step off from it. She did and within a half an hour I was

back in my room.

2. Security is Closed for the Holiday.

Because I was traveling alone all my belongs had to go to security. I had a

small purse with my walkman (for pain control) and my calling card, so I could

phone my family on Thanksgiving. The card was new and I haden't memorized the

number. I asked 10 people for my belongings and 6 of them said " Sure " ...but

never returned. The other 4 said they would call down and have them sent up ~

or ~ I'll see what I can do....but never did.

It actually got to be a joke with my roommate and I, because I had asked so

many times. Finally, about 5:00pm someone said that I would have to call

security. I was getting very anxious to reach my family and my stress level was

rising. I called and was told that security was closed for Thanksgiving,

nothing would be available until tomorrow. Tears immediately welled up in my

eyes and I couldn't even speak. The vioce on the other end was saying " Miss,

Miss, are you there? " I was numb with grief, realizing I could not contact my

family. Happy ending :-).... I cried.... I fell asleep.... I woke up at

6:00pm... and.... remembered the number! What a relief. I don't know what

powers were working there, but I Thank them. I was so happy to hear their

voices. My husband had tried calling me, but Mt. Sinai told him there was no

one by my name listed as a patient. What a crazy Thanksgiving!

Other than that, my stay was pretty much uneventful. I used my breather as

much as I could and walked when I didn't feel like it. I had a great day nurse

and a nurses aide that worked evenings was a pleasure to see. The rest of them

can look for work else where as far as I'm concerned. I did go out of my way

to greet them VERY cheerily, smile and always say please and thank you....just

to turn their crank! They seemed determined to make your stay miserable, but I

was determined to NOT let them get me down. I was having a he)) of good time!

Heck, I was so happy to wake up after surgery with no complications, I was ready

to kiss every one of them!

Well, that's enough for now. Thank You Terri and Maggie for being my angels,

and for everyone who called to say hello during my period of confinement! :-)

Peg Galloup

11/21/01 Dr Pomp Mt Sinai

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