Friday, August 27, 2010

it's outrageous and insane these crazy prices in PORT of Spain

Home from an uneventful port surgery. Uneventful as in everything went as planned, no snafus.

I had my surgery at the Allied Physician surgery center in town of which my step mom is a share owner and practices at frequently. She had recommended both the surgeon and anesthesiologist to me and was present in scrubs during my surgery. While I was in the waiting room before she arrived I had been watching one of the nurses, or nurses aides maybe, an older, heavy set lady who seemed none to happy to be there. She had called two patients back before me without much of smile or personality at all, she even seemed a little annoyed about it. I'd thought to myself that I hoped she wasn't my nurse. My step mom arrived shortly after and the I was called back by, lo and behold, grump lady. Except suddenly she wasn't grumpy anymore - quite chipper and soooo happy to see me. I told my step mom she was going to have to come with me to all my medical stuff. lol.

Anyway. From there I had a vanc drip hooked up and I opted to go ahead and get the general. I was told it was my choice, i could do the conscious sedation or twilight or whatever it was called or just go under and I decided I wanted to be aware of nothing. So I got a beautiful combo of versed and fentanyl (how pleasant that was!) and then I was out.

I woke very confused and was told that I kept asking where my daughter was and was afraid I had left her home alone.

I got a pediatric sized "smart port" which can be used for draws and contrast as well as meds, slightly above my right breast.

and that was all they wrote.

I have to say that post op fentanyl wasn't cutting it for me, which is wierd. they offered me demerol, but I declined that opting for more fent. After 150mg of fent and 10mg of percocet I felt pretty good. Tolerance, maybe? I dunno.

Now I am slightly tender. It hurts a bit to bend over or raise my arm up but just chilling out (or typing this) is OK. The worst is my throat. My throat is on fire and despite all the narcotics, I just can't shake it. I think throat pain is one of the worst types of pain and i have little tolerance for it. But...whatcha gonna do?

So, all in all things went well and despite my uncertainty in the wee hours of last night's morning I feel glad that i did this. The port is quite small and I think it will be pretty unnoticable. I look forward to the ease it should give me with meds. I think it will help my compliance with getting IVs when IVs are the best thing. At least that was my intention.

So, I present to you my ported up chest.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, not too bad at all. You can hardly see it.

I guess I had a bad or challenged recovery b/c I was hating it for a while. I certainly wouldn't have typed a thing the day of.

You're doing good! Awesome.

-cowtown

Shannon said...

might be all the drugs Kelly, we'll see how I feel in the a.m.!

Amy said...

does look great!

figures about the grumpy lady! only nice to those she knows she has t be nice too!! Pffft!!!

Piper said...

holy moly, the dressing is off already? good for you!

it looks great and it's in literally the exact same place as mine. (mine goes into my jugular though, so you can see the line itself in my neck. odd, to say the least.) i'm so so glad to hear that everything went as planned and that the versed/fent combo worked well. that's what i use for my bronchs, although it never fully knocks me out...yay cystic drug tolerance!

here's hoping your port brings you many, many years of easy access and convenience.

Juliet Page said...

Wow Shannon, that looks great! Once the bruising goes away it will be hardly noticeable. :) Thanks for sharing the pictures. ~Juliet

Stephanie aka PinkPigg said...

Looks good Shannon. Glad to hear it went so well. I'm getting one this week or next. Thanks for going first ;)

Hunter's Mom said...

Hope your throat is feeling better!!! Thanks for posting the before/after pics - curious to what you feel when you actually use it (hook up to it)

environmental fiend said...

Cogratulations! Glad you finally got this done and that it went smoothly. :)