I know that my upcoming surgery, the laminectomy and new rod installation, is not going to be any where near as bad as my previous spine fusion, but surgery is surgery, and I'll still be subjected to all of the needles, tubes, and catheters, pulse oximeter readings, and all of the daily swallowing of antibiotics and stool softeners as I was before.
When I was getting my blood drawn for my labs yesterday, the guy was surprised by how calm I was about it.
He told me to take a deep breath and look away, I didn't.
I just watched him insert it, start the draw, change the vial, fill, change to the next vial, and then even helped him pull the needle and hold the cotton, remove the tourniquet, and put on the band-aid.
Mindy was sitting right outside the room laughing because the guy was all "most people hate needles", and I'm all dude, I've had so many needles and stuff in me, I could probably do it myself.
I told him the only thing I don't like is the central picc, I freaking hate that one.
They have to place those in during the surgery, and it's usually in there until they remove the breathing tube.
I hate that one because it's very uncomfortable, even though I'm usually doped up really bad, I can still feel it in there, it feels stiff and hard, like if you were to turn your head, it would snap in half or something, or poke through the other side of your jugular and kill you.
Ha!
I just said turn your head, something I won't be doing anymore after this surgery, so worrying about the picc stabbing through my jugular is not really going to be a worry or a problem.
It's still going to feel stiff and uncomfortable, but at least I won't have to worry about turning my head and killing myself. *LoLz*
And I need to remember to tell them, or remember to tell my sister to tell them, not to give me so many damn stool softeners this time.
They gave them to me like 3 times a day every day, and my body does not need that many.
After being on opiate pain relievers all of these years, I know all too well about the whole constipation thing that happens because of them, and I've somehow trained my body to "go" after just one stool softener per day, every other day.
If they give them to me in that large of doses while I'm there, we're going to have a bit of a messy going problem if you know what I mean.
I have a really good relationship with my meds and my bowels these days, I know exactly how many poop pills to take to get things moving along just fine.
====================
When I was getting my blood drawn for my labs yesterday, the guy was surprised by how calm I was about it.
He told me to take a deep breath and look away, I didn't.
I just watched him insert it, start the draw, change the vial, fill, change to the next vial, and then even helped him pull the needle and hold the cotton, remove the tourniquet, and put on the band-aid.
Mindy was sitting right outside the room laughing because the guy was all "most people hate needles", and I'm all dude, I've had so many needles and stuff in me, I could probably do it myself.
I told him the only thing I don't like is the central picc, I freaking hate that one.
They have to place those in during the surgery, and it's usually in there until they remove the breathing tube.
I hate that one because it's very uncomfortable, even though I'm usually doped up really bad, I can still feel it in there, it feels stiff and hard, like if you were to turn your head, it would snap in half or something, or poke through the other side of your jugular and kill you.
Ha!
I just said turn your head, something I won't be doing anymore after this surgery, so worrying about the picc stabbing through my jugular is not really going to be a worry or a problem.
It's still going to feel stiff and uncomfortable, but at least I won't have to worry about turning my head and killing myself. *LoLz*
And I need to remember to tell them, or remember to tell my sister to tell them, not to give me so many damn stool softeners this time.
They gave them to me like 3 times a day every day, and my body does not need that many.
After being on opiate pain relievers all of these years, I know all too well about the whole constipation thing that happens because of them, and I've somehow trained my body to "go" after just one stool softener per day, every other day.
If they give them to me in that large of doses while I'm there, we're going to have a bit of a messy going problem if you know what I mean.
I have a really good relationship with my meds and my bowels these days, I know exactly how many poop pills to take to get things moving along just fine.
It's amazing how things get easier once you figure out a "system" isn't it. And meds are no different. Once you figure out what they do to you, you know exactly how much you should take.
I've figured out that I need an iron supplement every couple of weeks otherwise I start feeling lethargic. How weird is that?