Two Bolts

Two Bolts

When I was younger with 7 siblings, my parents knew many ways to stretch a buck.  My father was a jack of all trades, but learned to create and fix things through trial and error from the school of hard knocks.  One of his acquired skills was auto repair.  Many kids meant many cars and we all know cars break down.  Whenever a car needed routine repair or maintenance, he would do it himself.  Over the years he amassed many types of specialized tools to do these repairs.  Of course, back then engines weren't as high tech as today's cars, there was room to maneuver within a slant 6 or V8.  So swapping out an alternator from a late model car from the local junk yard was his operational model.  The knowledge he acquired over the years was astounding.  Early on he provided hands-on (or stand back and watch) training.  Thanks to him, I could swap out, radiators, starters, celluloid switches, patch tires, use bond,o etc. However, he would often run into a job he thought simple and would say, "It's just two bolts".  But the job would take many hours and sometimes days. So in my family, the term: two bolts equates to something not so simple.

Day Surgery

After many pre-op calls from the hospital, surgical team, anesthesiologist, my arrival time was placed at 6:30 AM.  I figured since I was fasting, I didn't need time to drink coffee so took my shower the night before.  I decided to get up at 5:30AM.  My younger sister (who is an angel), offered to pick me up at 6AM and drive me to Holy Family in Methuen. Being anxious, I woke up at 3:30AM.  I tried to get back to sleep, but my mind was now awake.  Then it came to me that I set the alarm for 5:55 not 5:30.  I was startled and immediately turned on the light and re-set the alarm.  By this time I was even more awake, but I managed to cat nap until the alarm went off. [It sure is dark this time of year at 5:30]

My sister, Leslie arrived and we scooted off to Methuen.  Traffic was busy but moving.  Of course the drivers were up to their bad driving antics, but we made it.  Due to COVID I had to be dropped off.  After thanking her, I proceeded to the Hospital.  

The check-in process was very stream lined due to being a virtual ghost town.  I just had the obligatory questions and was given an 'OK to enter' sticker. I proceeded to Day Surgery and checked in.  There were three people in the waiting room.  My name was called.  My nurse was very pleasant and task driven.  I was shown to bay #3 and was instructed to remove all my clothes, place them in patient belonging bags and don the hospital johnnie. She went through all the paperwork and completed forms. She drew some blood and placed my IV stint and hooked me up the saline solution.  She then told me the order of appearance for my medical team then left but was replaced by one of my doctors of anesthesiology.  He went through his script and described how they work in teams and another anesthetist would be meeting with me.  Upon his leaving another nurse arrived.  She hooked me up to a vitals machine. A few more arrived and fitted me with electrode stickers.  The second anesthesiologist   arrived with yet another team member.  And they asked many of the same questions then walked me through the program.  Doctor Hurley arrived, went through the paperwork, signed off on some things then told me everything will be fine and my being the first patient of the day meant my procedure would start as scheduled.  He patted my shoulder then left. One by one a team of six cam and I was wheeled into operating room 5.  I was introduced to two more nurses and scooted onto the operating table. Immediately they all began getting me ready.  One of the anesthetists placed an oxygen make on me and said that I would begin to feel drowsy.  By the time she finished saying that I was out.

Recovery Room

I came consciousness at about 10:30 in the post op recovery room.  Feeling out of it, I did have some pain.  The nurse offered some pain meds.  Yes, please! She said the catheter will feel uncomfortable.  Oh, did it ever. Meds did kick in and it made it tolerable.  I was provided with some water and crackers and was told I would be moved back to where I started in about an hour once my vitals were normal.  

I had a quick visit by Doctor Hurley who ominously said, "It went well.  It was bigger than I had thought.  I hope I got it all.  I don't want you to have anymore bleeding". I guess I'll need a better discussion about this at my next visit. Doctor Moore stopped by to say hi.  He performed my breast surgery in 2015.

I was having stabbing pains in my upper left back and when I took deep breaths.  I tried to get into a comfortable position but I would set off the machine.  Apparently the position that felt the best crimped hoses. The pain got so bad that I got the attention of a few nurses.  No one seemed to know why I had this, but to be sure it wasn't my heart, they gave me an EKG.  A host of nurses descended and got me hooked up.  I purposely took deep breaths hoping the pain would register on the results.  But, the EKG came back normal! The nurse remained and continued to trouble-shoot to determine the cause (something external?), however as she was talking, I began to feel faint.  The vitals showed that my blood pressure was very low.  My vision began to 'grey out' and I felt myself fainting.  A bunch of nurses again descended and I could hear them say 'He's cold to the touch".  It seemed that all were placing their hands on my arms to either feel for themselves or provide me with heat.  Their heat felt nice.  It was decided that my pressure be taken on my other arm.  This reading was still low.  Not long after, I was beginning to feel 'normal' again.  The nurse said my color was back and my readings were normal. I was given some graham crackers and apple juice and remained until the readings were stable.  Yet another mystery.

Bon Voyage

I think it was close to 1:30 at this point so I was given the green light to advance to GO but NOT collect $200. I was wheeled to bay 3 and collected my personal belongings. The nurse explained that I had a Foley catheter and provided a detailed demonstration on how to use it, drain it, wear it and swap it over to a night-time collection bag.  She mentioned that the doctor had called in prescriptions for me and his office would schedule a follow-up to have the catheter removed.  She also provided instruction on what to do when things aren't right. One remedy being a visit to the ER. I was instructed to dress and take the night-time kit and urinal with me. My sister had been called and was already waiting outside for nearly 2 hours.  The nurse said she called 'transport', which meant someone would wheel me out in a wheel chair.  Got outside and the weather was gorgeous.  One of the first things Leslie said was, 'Two bolts".

Drugs Ready For Pick-up

Leslie suggested that I contact the drug store to see if my script was ready for pick up.  They were. So, she drove me there.  When I looked at the drugs, I saw that I was prescribed Ciprofloxasin.  I don't feel comfortable taking that.  I had it swapped out before.  So after I got home I contacted the doctors office and requested an alternative.  Not long after I was notified that a new script was ready for pick-up.  I was bad and drove the mile to the drug store.  I took a few back streets and was very cautious ;-)

I did manage to eat something and took a 4 hour nap.  Not looking forward to pee bag maneuvers tonight.  I hope they take this thing out soon.

More to come!