Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Port Inserted, Eddie is Okay

Yesterday was my first almost-full day at work in about two weeks. I took it relatively easy and was happy that I had a few hours to prepare for my noon class. I think I am managing to get that class caught up with my string of absences. That feels good. I think I'm engaging the students, too.

Then, it was off to my appointment at the hospital to have the P.A.S. port inserted (installed?). There was some delay waiting for the IV nurse and then they thought that they had an emergency heart cath to do before me. The good news is that a softball buddy of mine was part of the crew who worked on me to put the port in my arm. Thanks, A! It was nice to have the distraction of chatting and visiting with you. They gave me some mile sedatives, so I think I was coherent, but relaxed. I only felt three pokes/pinches the whole time. It was over fairly quickly (i.e., in and out of the procedure room in about 45 min) but then they had to observe me in Short Stay for an hour to be sure I was recovering without any problems. I got home about six. So, it was a long day.

I had dinner and then rested in my room. I think I fell asleep at 7, woke up at 8, fell back to sleep until after 9pm, then I got ready for bed and was probably asleep by 9:30pm. I may have awakened once, but at 2:30am, I woke up to a weeping wound dressing. Sigh. Finally got up at 3:30 to change it and fell back to sleep at 4:30.

Then, it was up around 5:45 to get ready to go to Portland. Eddie had an appointment at Doernbecher's Children's Hospital for a check-up for his Marfan's Syndrome. A huge thanks to dad for driving - they didn't want me driving today because of the sutures in my arm. It was a good visit - his heart was fine. So, we continue to monitor him in case his aorta changes in the future. He will see the ophthalmology specialist in a couple of weeks.

We stopped at Macy's to look for a sweater/shrug/fancy jacket to go over my black dress for Puttin' on the Pink, which is on Saturday. I think I found a nice sweater, with big sleeves for the armpit and for the port. I need to put them on together to be sure.

We got home about 3:45pm and I've been relaxing since. Particularly since I now have diarrhea. Probably from all the meds yesterday. Sigh. My dressing also started leaking again; I need to change it, but I'm waiting as long as possible so it can last throughout the night. I wish . . . .

2 comments:

Cynthia said...

Dee, aside from the leaky dressing (ick) I am so glad your port insertion went well. I should have sent you a link to my blog where I described the process. http://theriverandthesea.blogspot.com/2010/07/port-installation.html

But then I thought about it - it's a good think I didn't because they didn't give me a sedative! You would have been much more worried going into it if you thought you were going to be facing it cold. :-) Gotta love Canada - my dentist sedates me for a cleaning if I ask him to but my doctors expect me to face most of this cancer stuff as sober as a judge. :-)

I send you and your family more wishes for good health and happiness.

Dee said...

Thank you, Cyn, for the link. I am frankly glad I got the sedative. I am also glad my friend was there to chat with me. That is unfortunate that the Canadian health system didn't sedate you . . . I hope you are well!