Our Lap Chole Story

[Davey Do]

My medical nurse wife Belinda and I have just experienced a few eventful days involving a visit to the ER with a subsequent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The experience was concerning, painful, hilariously funny, admirable, and finally, relieving. I have nothing but good things to say about the doctors, nurses, and other staff at the hospital where Belinda works in IMCU, which I given the pseudonym of Anomaly Memorial.

Belinda awoke me at 5am on Tuesday, after making attempts at relieving pain in her URQ which she had started experiencing at 2am. She had experienced similar pain to a lesser degree on a couple of occasions, consulted with physicians, had tests, and had decided, with support from her physician and surgeon, to undergo surgery when she was ready. The pain was severe enough that Belinda believed she was ready.

We arrived at the ER at about 0530, and in a relatively short amount of time, Belinda had been assessed by a staff a RN, seen by the ERP, and received Zofran and Toradol IVP. The meds decreased the nausea and pain to the point that Belinda could bear the symptoms. Plans were put in the works for surgery ASAP.

While we were waiting the next phase of treatment, her pain returned with a vengeance, so the ERP RX Dilaudid 1mg IVP. Belinda has a high pain tolerance, does not drink alcohol, and the Norco 5mg which she once received PO in the past made her loopy then knocked her out. I made the RN aware of this, but Belinda's pain was so severe we all thought it best she receive it as RX.

After the Dilaudid was slowly administered, Belinda said, "Wow! I can't believe some of my patients can still walk around after I've given them 2mg of Dilaudid IVP!" The RN agreed and added, "Some patients tell me to push it fast!" I rhetorically asked, "So they get a better buzz, eh?"

Belinda was now able to lie comfortably on the gurney, but said, "I don't like this feeling because everything is spinning". I sat by her side and held her hand. After a few minutes, she appeared to drift off to sleep. Then, with her eyes closed, she softly said, "Good night, George. See you next week." "Who's George?" I asked, and Belinda responded, "George, George".

When I later relayed to her what she had said, Belinda furrowed her brow, and seemingly asked herself, "George?" Her eyes widened as she recalled a scene from the movie "Father of the Bride II", which I have not seen, with characters played by Steve Martin and Martin Short.

In the movie, Martin Short's character gives Steve Martin's character (George) some of his sleeping pills. George wants to get a good night's sleep, so he takes several of the pills. Steve Martin's character asked Martin Short's character what taking that number of pills will do to him. Of course the answer is: "Good night, George. See you next week".

What Belida said was entertaining at the time, but once I had a frame of reference, it became hilarious!

I do hope you will stay tuned to this thread, for that is merely one, in a long line of entertaining situations, that I plan to impart to you. I will do so in doses smaller than George's.

See you next time!

[Davey Do]

Belinda behaved and acted rather strangely as a result of the meds she had received. Having dealt for decades with patients and others who had an altered sense of consciousness due to meds, illicit drugs, and/or psychosis, I have learned some therapeutic responses and interventions.

At one point in her sleep-like state, Belinda, with closed eyes, began grabbing at unseen objects in the air. "What are you grabbing at, dear?" I asked. "There's bugs!" she replied. I said, "Belinda, there are no bugs, it's only the medication you've been given". "Oh..." she replied, relaxed, and seemed to resumed sleeping.

Even though I had challenged Belinda's perception of reality- which in and of itself can be disconcerting- I gave her a rationale for what she was perceiving. To merely deny a person's perception in an altered state without an understandable rationale can cause increased anxiety.

While Belinda rested on the gurney with her eyes closed, I held her hands in mine.  When it became tiring, I attempted to pull away, but Belinda would moan and reach out in an attempt to resume our hand holding.

I found that if I sat on a chair next to the gurney with my elbows on my knees, I could comfortably hold her hands for long intervals. As I felt tired, I leaned forward to rest my head against our clasped hands and closed my eyes.

I thought, "If someone walks in here, they'll think I'm praying". So, I decided, "What the heck- I'll pray!" and this is how my prayer went:

"Dear Lord, make me a channel and please pass all of my healing energy into Belinda." Then I thought about it for a moment and said, "No, I mean: Please make me a channel and pass all of YOUR healing energy into Belinda, because I need some healing energy for myself. But just in case You've already taken the first request of using MY healing energy, I'm willing to give up 49% of my healing energy to Belinda. That way, I have controlling interest, 51%, of the healing energy. Okay with you, Lord?"

It has been said that God helps those who help themselves and I need all the help that I can get.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

Your prayer totally cracked me up. Since I'm not sure when I'll be back to check out the rest of the thread, I'm glad to at least know that you hinted at a good final outcome with the relieved adjective. Hoping she's having a smooth recovery!

[Davey Do]

2 hours ago, JBMmom said:

Your prayer totally cracked me up.

Music to my ears, JBMmom.

Thanks for the well-wishes. Belinda is recovering well and we are waiting for her to poop. Belinda had a few post lap chole patients who returned as inpatients due to being bound up.

While Belinda was in her altered state of consciousness due to the meds, she said other things and even sang something along the lines of, ?"something something something trash no no no no", ? all in her low tones with her eyes closed.

There were many small exchanges and sometimes I can't stop myself from being a little sarcastic:

Belinda: Don't forget to feed the cat.
Dave: Like the cat will let me forget?!

Belinda requested that I contact some of her family members. Begrudgingly, I did so. One text went this way:

"Belinda and I are in the ER. She will have a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gall bladder surgery) this afternoon or tomorrow. She was in quite a bit of pain but has had some good drugs and is resting quietly. You will be kept posted."

A response:" Did she have some issues or is this a routine thing?"

My reply: "I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clearer. The 'E' in ER stands for Emergency".

Belinda and I got some big laughs out of these situations. After Belinda was transferred to a room on AMCU, I went home to TCB. I made a quick Get Well card from the cat:

 

 

On the back of the card the cat wrote, "I hope you are feeling better after you left to go to the ER without feeding me!"

On the way back to the hospital, I stopped and bought a little bouquet and stuck them in an antique Pepsi bottle. Pepsi is Belinda's favorite beverage.

[Davey Do]

Belinda went down for surgery late the next morning. An OR nurse requested that I wait five minutes in the waiting room and then come back to OR room five. Thank goodness I only had to listen to The Price Is Right blaring from the waiting room's TV for five minutes!

Being with Belinda during her pre op was a pleasant experience, as nurses and docs did their thing. Some of the nurses knew Belinda and I knew nurses who knew nurses that had worked and retired from that OR, so it was sort of like an Old Home Week.

Belinda was taken into surgery, I kissed her goodbye and told her not to break her leg. (She had had an ORIF there several years ago for a fx of her R tib.)

I returned to the OR waiting room to watch the progress of Belinda's surgery by readings on a monitor and do some art to pass the time. When I do art, time passes quickly, and I am able to block out just about everything, like the TV. It's presence was unnecessary, because the other three individuals had smartphones, so the scene looked like this:

 

 

I killed my TV years ago because I found it obnoxious. But I could stand the soap opera, the commercials, and even the bubble-headed bleached blonde who spatted out the news in her nasal voice. What I couldn't stand was a show titled TALK! with loud animated hosts & hostesses who proclaimed their favorite pizza toppings while the audience cheered.

In my journal, I drew a picture of a slice of pizza with a narrative stating, "The audience not only applauded, but they also yelled, whooped, and screamed as the hosts & hostesses laughed hysterically at each other when favorite pizza toppings were recited. Pizza is funny, as exciting as the Second Coming of Christ, and goh-dam good eatin'!"

So I went out into the hall and sat in some chairs outside of the OR waiting room and did my art.

18 hours ago, Davey Do said:

I have nothing but good things to say about the doctors, nurses, and other staff at the hospital

I could relate multiple situations where the hospital staff were outstandingly pleasant and helpful, from the ER nurse who first assessed Belinda to the tech who wheeled her out at discharge. But please allow me a moment to exemplify that attitude by the OR nurse mentioned in the first paragraph of this post.

As I sat in the hallway doing my art stuff, I overheard several interactions between this nurse, other staff, patients, and family members. This middle-aged nurse was the epitome of exquisite caring and politeness. She was amazing! From informing family members on how to use the waiting room surgical monitor to steering a lost elderly couple to the correct department, her calm demeanor never wavered. 

As I sat in the hallway, she asked me, "Is there anything that I can get for you?" Jeeze! She went out of her way to see if a wheel that wasn't squeaking needed grease!

God bless that nurse and the horse she rode in on!

Okay. That's enough. For now.

 

[Davey Do]

2 hours ago, Davey Do said:

Belinda had a few post lap chole patients who returned as inpatients due to being bound up.

Hot off the presses!

 

[Daisy4RN]

Sorry for Belinda’s difficult time but glad she is now doing well!!

19 hours ago, Davey Do said:

has been said that God helps those who help themselves and I need all the help that I can get.

Don’t we all

4 hours ago, Davey Do said:

A response:" Did she have some issues or is this a routine thing?"

My reply: "I'm sorry that I didn't make myself clearer. The 'E' in ER stands for Emergency".

Well in all fairness many people do use the ER for routine visits

20 hours ago, Davey Do said:

What Belida said was entertaining at the time, but once I had a frame of reference, it became hilarious!

This reminds me of a time I had surgery and after it was over my hubby was a little annoyed bc I was “so happy” going into surgery when he was so upset, scared etc. I had to tell him it was the happy drugs bc he didn’t know I had already taken them, he thought they were going to wait until I was in the operating room. (Uh, why else would I be happy at that time)
 

Even though it is definitely no fun having surgery it sounds like things went pretty smooth. Belinda is lucky to have you and I am so glad it went well. Wishing her a continued speedy, event free recovery!

And don’t forget to feed the ? 

And TVs and radios blaring everywhere are a pet peeve of mine, can’t stand it
 

[Davey Do]

Thank you for your post, kind words, points, and perspectives, Daisy. It's always good hearing from such a wise and wonderful person such as yourself.

An interesting thing occurred while assisting with Belinda's care, but it's probably only interesting to me because it's all about ME!

I have not done any nursing duties, outside of helping a couple of families in psych-like crisis situations, since I've retired nearly two years ago. This situation with Belinda caused me to remember what it felt like to be a nurse, involved as a member of a treatment team. I do not miss being a nurse, but there was a certain comfortability in this situation I felt as a result of having been a nurse.

It felt good, and I am happy to have been a nurse.

[Davey Do]

Life is a musical, and a couple of classics were rewritten into Our Lap Chole Story.

For example, the surgeon informed me the procedure had gone well and that a stone had been blocking the bile duct. Neil Diamond's song "Stones" came to mind.

"Stones would play inside her bile duct,
Having to have a lap chole really sucked..."

Then there was this pretty nurse with a nice figure who assisted Belinda. She had rather large arms, almost like a man, so Kim Carnes' song "Bette Davis Eyes" came to mind.

"Everybody thinks she's from the farm,
She's got... Robin Williams arms."

[Daisy4RN]

4 hours ago, Davey Do said:

I do not miss being a nurse, but there was a certain comfortability in this situation I felt as a result of having been a nurse.

It felt good, and I am happy to have been a nurse.

I completely understand. I don’t miss being a nurse either but am glad I was, it does put us in a unique position. 
 

3 hours ago, Davey Do said:

Life is a musical

Life is a highway…knock me down get back up again?

[Davey Do]

12 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Life is a highway....

And so it is, Ms. Daisy and I do believe I've reached my destination.

I wanted to share with others Our Lap Chole Story in order to give a perspective that could be related to and learned from in an entertaining format. This I feel and believe I have done.

In parting, I want to drive home the point that "Sometimes we eat the b'ar..."- we come upon a difficult situation and things go the way they are supposed to go. And that is in large part due to the fact that there are caring, competent professionals out there who continually take pride in their work.

Thank you and goodnight, George. See you next week.

[londonflo]

I hope Belinda is doing okay... Glad there were some high points during her pre, intra, and post op recovery. I didn't marry until I was 43 and I feel like I should have stressed "in sickness and health"  as many sicknesses have happened. But my husband remains steadfast through it all and I feel you are the same with Belinda. 

It is funny how when you are a patient one nurse who you don't remember her  name does some spectacular patient care/teaching/comfort. When I broke my hip going out to feed the cats (more on their accommodations later) I had to wait a day for surgery.....the ice storm here created many patients. The night of my surgery my nurse spent at least an hour getting me up to the bathroom, taught me how to use the walker, etc. I kept saying "you are spending so much time with me...are you sure you have the time. "She assured me to take my time while encouraging me to get up, move, get confidence." I never saw her again but she is the epitome of what nurses do. 

Regarding cats:

When I married I had cats and my husband was allergic to them. We then constructed a heated cat house, windows, sofa etc...all things cats like. They could go outside or stay in. The morning I broke my hip, after I went to the hospital my husband braved the ice and made sure he fed them before following me to the hospital.