Survived the Lithotripsy

Today, I had to be at the hospital at 5:30am (I will never know WHY this early morning stuff is required, but anyway, on with the story). Uncle Mark was kind enough to wake at 3 something to leave his house at 4:15 to get me by 4:45 to get me to the hospital by 5:30. I know he deserves a gold star sticker on his forehead, but I am not sure how to thank him enough. :)

Mark tried to flirt/joke with the first nurse by asking if they could remove some of my stubborness, quick wit, etc. The nurse said, "Let me check with the schedule. Oh, I have a 9:30 slot where you can get a lobotomy." Mark didn't try so many jokes after that one. :) Then, the next nurse, he tried to joke with about poor brothers, and she was the youngest of two older brothers so she didn't give him any slack. :) It was all going my way. She asked nine million questions, got me changed, gave the the lovely white stockings, and complained about the electronic medical record (the C company with the M product again - same one they complained about in pre-op). She also started my IV. She was a good nurse.

Mark left as they wheeled me to the pre-op holding area. There, I talked to the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the nurse anesthetist, and my urologist. I giggled as the anesthesiologist was needing a pen, and he had to beg for a pen from someone else. Apparently, this is a common problem as she gave him a hard time that the pen was to be BORROWED and not kept. :) The COW (computer on wheels) was "stolen" twice, and every single person complained about the computer. One nurse said that it had been "down" for an entire week and then it was down for four days last week. She said they had to go back to pulling out the machine that prints the names on the paper. Also, one nurse said that they had only eliminated a few pieces of paper and that it would take an hour to do a patient interview by the time they were done. Over and over they kept saying that the application was not designed by a nurse or designed for a nurse to use it. One of them was even on the committee to customize, and she was saying how few options there were to make it what you wanted. It is always hard to know what the situation is and what is the hospital making choices and what is the software, but I do know that anyone selling against the C company should just visit the surgical staff at St. Joseph's!!!!!

Then, they gave me Versed, and I don't remember anything else until I got to recovery. :) When I woke up, the alarm was going off and she was telling me to take a deep breath. I had to pee. I try to wait, and she gives me pain med as my back (left more than right) is really hurting. I finally convince her that I need to go to the bathroom. She keeps telling me that I will be wasting whatever I go as it won't count for my 150 ml that I have to go before I can go home. I keep telling her that I need to go. Finally, I go and it is 1000 ml. LOL...they were amazed and stopped bugging me then. :)

Mike and Morgan came to get me, and we dropped off my prescription and then went home. The puppy was sleeping like such a sweet baby, and then we realized that she was not feeling well at all. She had a bit of a cough yesterday, but she is worse today. Mike called the vet, but they said she would be fine until tomorrow when we have an appointment. Hope they give her something or that she peps up tomorrow. Man, sick puppies are PITIFUL. I could have held her for days. SOOOO cute.

I am not feeling so well at this point, but hopefully the procedure was successful. I will find out in a couple of weeks (well, and hopefully it will be getting better each day). I hadn't ever had it done on both sides before. I think one side at a time may be a better option. :)

Thanks for all the emails, text, and calls. I have the best friends and family you could ever ask for.