Gggooooooooodddd ddrrruuuuuugggsss . . .

Okay, so I was going to wait a couple of days to update - I have a couple more tests to undergo on Wednesday and was going to update after that - but I still feel kind of giddy with the drugs still in my system so I will update; with drugs in my system; maybe not the best idea I've ever had . . .
Oh well!
My last updates were at the end of August so I will try to bring you up to speed on where I'm at now.
A couple of weeks after my initial bout of illness I went back to the doctor as I wasn't getting any permanant relief. So I was refered to a GI specialist. I went to see him and got scheduled to have and Endoscopy, and abdominal ultrasound, and a HIDA scan (a contrast study done on my gallbladder - I'm still wondering why they call it that. I mean was it mean to someone or something, do something hateful or spiteful? Why gall?)
The endoscopy happened today. Background story:
I was told I needed to get the endoscopy and such, found out about my insurance deductible (EEEEKKK!!!!), and so began taking steps. At the specialists office I was informed that I was to pay $417 to them and that would be applied to my deductible - it had to be paid to them in order for him (the specialist) to get his stuff covered. Okay. I called the hospital billing/accounting department and spoke with a women there about what was going on. I asked her what I was going to be responsible for at the time of the procedures and she told me that all I was responsible for the day of was the co-pay and that they would send everything else to the insurance company to find out what they covered and what would be going toward my deductible. Cool! I called the insurance company just to verify all of this and they concured with what the lady at the hospital told me. Very cool!
Today:
Patty and I get there at about 10:45 (my appointment was at 11:00), we park, we go to admissions and start getting checked in (please note that I paid the specialist last Friday, so all the paperwork probably hasn't gone through yet). In the process of getting checked in, the lady informs me that I have so much left on my insurance deductible (aka the original amount) and do I have that to pay today? Uhhhh, no. So I explained to the lady that I had called the billing department and what they had said. She explained back that there was no co-pay, just the deductible. But she also said that they could give me a "three day leeway" for me to contact the billing department and pay - okay, whatever. Not something that had to be dealt with immediately, so no longer needed to thought about at the moment.
They took us over the the endoscopy department and got me checked in over there. And we waited.
And we waited.
And we waited.
And we waited some more.
We also occasionally twidled our thumbs.
A few people got called in in front of me - but thankfully I had read the sign on the wall that said "There are multiple doctors working in this department, so do not be concerned if others are being called back before you. If you have any questions, please ask at the check in desk." I like to call this the "Please don't freak out" sign.
It worked for me.
One poor patient that was called back in front of me was informed that he would have to wait 4-5 hours before his procedure even started.
Sign no longer working so well . . .
Will not panic . . .
Will not panic . . .
Patty patted me on the leg and said "I'm sorry."
*Please note: one of the things that helps my poor, sad, upset stomach is food. Unfortunately, with an endoscopy, food and drink are strictly prohibited.
At this time of the morning (now after noon) my stomach was growling and hurting. I could hear it grumbling quite loudly "FEED ME! NOW!"
But then, a glorious event occured:
They called me back -
and informed me very quickly that I was the first person for the specialist to see and that he was going to be in in just a few minutes. This was at about 12:35pm.
I would like you to know that the nursing staff and I had lots of fun.
I was informed that the procedure would only take about 10 minutes and that they would be inducing me with a drug called Propofol aka "the Micheal Jackson drug". I had to tell them that I was familiar with Propofol, being a Veterinary Technician, and that that was fine. They gave me the speil anyways. Then it was time for the IV.
I will always dread IVs, because I had such a bad experience the first time - thirteen sticks to get a good vein, and as someone who dislikes being poked with needles and all pain in general, this was very distressing and something that causes great concern.
The wonderful nurse got me on the first try - granted it was only a 24gauge catheter (please note that in Vet medicine, we use 24gauge catheters on chihuahua's) as my veins were too small to even try a 20 or 22 gauge.
They covered me with warm blankets (I really do love these people!) and wheeled me back to the procedure room, hooked me up to the oxygen, and re-went over my medical history (this was about the fourth time). They explained the need for a mouth gaurd, so that the endoscopy tube and my teeth did not get into any fights (my teeth would have won!). And - this is one of my favorite parts - they got me another warm blanket!
I would also like to note that all hospitals/places where anesthesia is induced in humans is very cold. Covenant was no different. It was freezing in there and I get cold easily anyways. So warm blankets make me smile - goofily.
The specialist showed up, joked with the staff while getting his stuff ready, and they had me roll over onto my left side and put the mouth gaurd in. One of the staff fluffed my pillow for me to make it more supportive under my neck, I stared at one of the monitoring machines and my eyelids got heavy. Knowing that it was anesthesia, I closed my eyes and drifted off . . . .
Beep. Beep.
Beep. Beep.
I opened my eyes and looked for the clock. 1:28pm. Sweet!
I started giggling.
I would like to inform everyone that when I wake up from anesthesia, I am a very, very happy person. Everything is funny. Nothing is hilarious. It's wonderful!
I tried to move my arms - they worked; sort of. I looked around trying to catch the nurses attention so that she would know that I was awake. No luck.
So I tried to sit up. Still no luck.
I tried again.
Nope.
Finally, I used my sort of working arms to latch onto the side railings, and was thankfully able to lift myself into a sitting position.
I was also giggling the entire time, and trying to be quiet about it - not very successfully.
The nurse saw me and asked me what I would like to drink and rattled off a list of possibilities.
"Orange juice," I requested and she brought it to me. A minute or two later she brought Patty back.
I am still giggling.
I reminded Patty that this was normal for me. She told me a little about the findings of the endoscopy while I sipped my orange juice and smiled blissfully.
The nurse took out my IV catheter - very ouch! - and put my clothes on the bed and lowered the rail, letting me know that I could get dressed now. I told her I didn't think my legs were working yet. She smiled and had Patty come stand next to me on that side of the bed, just in case, and closed the curtain. I requested to Patty to please not let me fall on face. She had to help me untangle my gown from under me at which time she discovered that they let me keep my pants and socks on. I told her that was a good thing as otherwise I would have been a "0" on Allie's inadequate pain scale (zero stands for "Haha! I'm not wearing any pants!" and as I'm already vastly amused by all things at this point . . .). She laughed with me and we figured out how to get me redressed.
We then made our way across the room to a set of chairs that the nurse told us to go to and she went over some discharge instructions, told Patty to go get the car and that they would wheel me out to her.
She went, I waited and shivered (no more warm blankets - very sad face), and then they wheeled me out to the car where my very loving and wonderful sister had the heater turned on!
Bless her!
Patty was definitely hungry, and I kind of was too. I wanted bisquits - bread - and she wanted chick-fil-a so we stopped by KFC on the way. I also wanted orange juice and again my wonderful sister stopped by Walmart and grabbed a jug.
Then we went home and put in a movie.
I am still kind of giggly.

Completely unrelated to all of this is that I currently have to foster animals - a cat named Pepper who will be leaving me on Thursday, and a small black lab named Clara (the dog is through the greyhound rescue through Lollipop rescue as a favor for letting the greyhounds board at Lollipop kennels FYI). But I'll go into more detail on that later. As of now, I wish to get ready for bed.