I'M BACK!

All the plans for today went up in flames, just like this fireplace in the lobby of the hospital.

My friend, Carole, picked me and Joe up at 6:00 a.m.  We got to the hospital around 6:30, I got admitted, was put in a cubicle, undressed, the whole nine yards.  I didn't have a clock or watch so I don't know how long it was, but I had three people working on me to get my health history, vitals and put an IV into me.

Talk about IVs...  It was horrible.  The first nurse got in a vein, but hit a valve so couldn't get a blood flow going.  I kept telling her it wouldn't work.  After a year of going to the chemo lab every week for IV I know what works and what doesn't.  I kept telling her how much it hurt.  Then she got a male nurse to put pressure on it while she pushed it in.  I started crying and they finally stopped.  When she pulled the needle out, it spurted blood all over the place.  She had to put pressure on it to make it stop bleeding.  Then she tried my hand.  Again, intense pain.  This time the vein burst.  I had a major hematoma in my hand (large swelling of blood under the skin) so she couldn't use that vein either.  I can't begin to tell you about the pain.  She finally gave up and got the male nurse who used a smaller needle and (painfully) got a vein that worked near my elbow.  I tried to take pictures of how bruised my hand and arm are, but they didn't turn out.  But take my word for it, I am now multi-colored.

Then it was a matter of waiting for the doctor.  And waiting.  It was so long that the nurses actually called him and reminded him he had a patient.  When he finally got there, he came in, talked to me, explained that since I hadn't taken the medication I was supposed to the day before that he would not do the procedure -- it was too dangerous -- and he canceled everything.  He was in the hospital for a total of 10 minutes.  You could tell the nurses did not like him.  They were all talking about him.  One of them yelled, "thanks for stopping by", sarcastically of course.

So then it was taking everything off of me and sending me home.  By this time Carole had left, so we called my girlfriend, Carol, and she came to get us.   When we got home, it was around 10:00 a.m.

Neither Joe nor I had eaten, so Joe took me out to Andy and Nancy's Deli and we had breakfast.  I ate much more than I usually do.  I was hungry.  Then we came back home and fell asleep.

Later this afternoon I went to the pharmacy to pick up two prescriptions for my high blood pressure.  The medication I was supposed to take before the procedure was sitting there waiting for me also.  It had been there for a week.  I had called a couple of times during the week and the pharmacist told me that nothing had been called in.  I wrongly assumed that the doctor had changed his mind regarding me taking it.  Shows what assuming can do.  I was very upset with the pharmacist.  The clerk apologized to me, but the pharmacist wouldn't even talk to me.  I am thinking about changing my pharmacy.

In any event, I was not meant to have the procedure today.  I don't understand the mind of God, but trust that this is what was supposed to happen.  They want me to come back in a couple of weeks, but that will not be possible.  The rest of this month I have multiple doctor appointments, Joe's dental surgery, and Palm Sunday and Easter coming up.  There is no way I am going to be out of commission for Easter.  Plus Diane is going away for a long weekend and there will not be enough people at work to cover the branch if I am also gone.  It would be a major hardship on everyone I work with and since this is not a life-threatening procedure I would not do that to them.

So that is where things are at the moment, folks.  I will keep everyone updated as I go along.  I want to thank EVERYONE for your prayers, good thoughts and wishes, and just generally being concerned for me.  It shows me what good friends I have.  Even though we have never met in person, I consider all my blog buddies to be my true friends.  THANK YOU!!!!