Modern Medical Surprises
On Monday, I tagged along with my wife, Nanci, to see if my "hernia" had gotten worse and to try to set up the surgery to get it taken care of. Nothing went quite as planned.
After the usual obligatory poking and prodding, my Doctor, who was the only one who was able to figure out that Nanci had fibromyalgia after we had gone for over six years without any real diagnosis that helped, decided that he wantd some photos for his scrap book, so, it was off to the hospital for a CT scan.
2PM, we arrived and, again, I got poked, prodded and looked over. Multiple times, by multiple people. Blood drawn, other samples taken and the usual questions were asked before I went up to be put through the mini-Star Gate gizmo that is used to see what's going on inside when an X-ray won't do the job.
No big deal there, except that the barium drink tasted like a bad pina colada that needed more rum. LOTS more rum.
By 11PM, after more poking and prodding by several more Doctors and a surgical team, it was finally revealed to me that I didn't have a hernia at all but, "one of the oddest presenting appendix issues we've seen in quite a while." Only the cery end of it was "annoyed," and the decision was that, just to be safe, they were going to remove it first thing in the morning. Evidently, the problem was not acute and, honestly, was probably the source of what had initially been diagnosed as a hernia in the first place, which is not all that off. However, appendix problems usually go acute and need to be dealt with within a week or so of their initial presenting problems.
Not me. This went almost six months.
Surgery went fine, but I evidently gave the Recovery Room people a bit of a hard time as I woke up under a piggy pile of people who were yelling "Calm DOWN!" as they were removing the anesthesia tubes from my throat. I have this phobia about choking, see ... and I'm a retired black belt in karate... No injuries reported, however, so no problems, there, either.
That evening, I did get to see a digital photo of the appendix and it WAS really odd - only the end was expanded and discolored, the rest of it was perfectly normal, which even the surgeon said was very strange, indeed. Well, I have two trick knees, so, I guess a trick appendix isn't all that over the top, either!
I'm home now and will even be able to do my show tomorrow, which is a Good Thing as the client is really looking forward to it. I wonder how she'll feel about getting the abridged version of her performer - one without an appendix!
After the usual obligatory poking and prodding, my Doctor, who was the only one who was able to figure out that Nanci had fibromyalgia after we had gone for over six years without any real diagnosis that helped, decided that he wantd some photos for his scrap book, so, it was off to the hospital for a CT scan.
2PM, we arrived and, again, I got poked, prodded and looked over. Multiple times, by multiple people. Blood drawn, other samples taken and the usual questions were asked before I went up to be put through the mini-Star Gate gizmo that is used to see what's going on inside when an X-ray won't do the job.
No big deal there, except that the barium drink tasted like a bad pina colada that needed more rum. LOTS more rum.
By 11PM, after more poking and prodding by several more Doctors and a surgical team, it was finally revealed to me that I didn't have a hernia at all but, "one of the oddest presenting appendix issues we've seen in quite a while." Only the cery end of it was "annoyed," and the decision was that, just to be safe, they were going to remove it first thing in the morning. Evidently, the problem was not acute and, honestly, was probably the source of what had initially been diagnosed as a hernia in the first place, which is not all that off. However, appendix problems usually go acute and need to be dealt with within a week or so of their initial presenting problems.
Not me. This went almost six months.
Surgery went fine, but I evidently gave the Recovery Room people a bit of a hard time as I woke up under a piggy pile of people who were yelling "Calm DOWN!" as they were removing the anesthesia tubes from my throat. I have this phobia about choking, see ... and I'm a retired black belt in karate... No injuries reported, however, so no problems, there, either.
That evening, I did get to see a digital photo of the appendix and it WAS really odd - only the end was expanded and discolored, the rest of it was perfectly normal, which even the surgeon said was very strange, indeed. Well, I have two trick knees, so, I guess a trick appendix isn't all that over the top, either!
I'm home now and will even be able to do my show tomorrow, which is a Good Thing as the client is really looking forward to it. I wonder how she'll feel about getting the abridged version of her performer - one without an appendix!
posted by Lee Darrow at 10:54 AM
0 comments
