No Twilight sleep...just lots of talking!

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I was once more reminded that in a hospital there is a lot of hurry up and wait!  And when you are anxious, waiting can be more than a little frightening.  There was a lot of waiting yesterday to get my port put in for my chemo treatments.  Even though I was so scared, I look back at it today and I have to laugh a little.  They must think I am more than a little crazy over at Covenant!

I was terrified getting my IV in...which left me with two glorious bruises, one on each arm.  Then as I waited in the prep room to go into the operating room, the nurse, Kevin, came in.  Kevin can best be described as Santa Clause in scrubs!!  He tried to sooth me in his way.  Very positive and assured me that he would come out as the person who was right in that it wasn't a big deal and I would in fact live through the procedure:).  I kept begging them to make me fall asleep...not enough to put a tube down my throat but enough to make me unaware of what they were doing.  Nothing doing!  Kevin and Dr. Channey were both very kind and understanding.  And Kevin kept assuring me everything would be fine.

I was wheeled into a very scaled down operating room.  No huge, round lights.  Kevin was correct in describing the operating table as a giant ironing board!  They put little plastic inserts on the sides for my arms to rest on.  Christy, who I think was the PA, was there to get me ready.  She started talking and we discovered a shared love for books!  I also introduced the whole crew to Celtic Women as Christy offered to play music from her IPod...thank goodness for Pandora!  Once I started talking, I didn't stop!!  Even when Kevin gave me my first dose of the medacine that was suppose to make me relax and be calm, I talked non stop through the whole procedure!!!  The only time I wasn't talking is when I was yelling and whimpering a bit when they were numbing the area they were working on.  That hurt quite a bit!  But fortunantly, I called Kevins name and held out my hand and he came right over and held it, letting me almost stop his circulation I was squeezing so hard!!!

I think a combination of fear and the drugs kept me talking all the way to X Ray (something they do after each procedure).  There was no one there when I arrived and I found myself humming, and then quietly singing (the song was Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof).  It was like I couldn't stop!!!!  Then the technician came in and we had a pleasant chat as he X rayed the area the port was in.  Then the transport girl and I talked all the way back to my room!  Fortunately there was a tray of food waiting for me and I was starving otherwise who knows what song I would have broken in to as I waited for my parents to come back to my room!!

I was high all day yesterday!  Now today I feel like I was run over by a MAC truck!  I am told by a nurse who called today to check on me that feeling is normal.  My shoulder is sore where the port is and where they cut in.  I was told I wouldn't feel the cathedar in my vein and I don't....but it is tender where they went into the vein.

What they do is they numb the whole area, cut it open, wiggle the port down under my skin, then thread the cathedar into my jugular vein and down towards the heart.  That way when the chemo goes in, it gets a good mix up into the blood and out through my body.  Amazing what they do to the human body to cure it!  I still don't feel good but I know in a few days I'll start to feel better.

And thus endith my story of getting my port.