June 15, 2012--Removal of PD Catheter

Ramiro and I left home about 7 a.m. for the hospital. This is the day that I get the peritoneal dialysis catheter removed. It is entirely internal, having never been exteriorized because I did not need dialysis before I got my transplant. Went the through the usual pre op--lots of questions about medications, prior conditions, whether Ihad taken my meds, whether I'd had anything to eat or drink after midnight. I had been told to take my antirejection meds with me and to take them at the scheduled time (9 a.m.). The pre op nurse asked me when I had last taken my meds (last night), and I also told her that I had brought my meds to take at 9. She held her finger to her mouth and told me not to tell her, because hospital rules require that a patient not bring their meds from home, and that if I told her I needed meds at nine, she would have to get a doctor's order to get the meds from the hospital pharmacy so that they could give them to me. So she said if I didn't tell her, she would not have to do it. Wink Wink. I got taken down for a chest xray, then brought back up so I could get an IV put in my arm. She sprayed a numbing spray on the top of my left hand, and that's where she inserted the needle, but it still hurt like heck. The black lady who did my blood draws had a very gentle touch and I did not feel that puncture, although I did get a little bruise. I spoke to the anesthesioligist (Dr. Coffee) and the nurse anethestist. That interview was fairly quick, since Dr. Coffee said he knew, by reason of my transplant, that I didn't have heart issues, hadn't had problems with anesthesia, etc. He asked me how much I weighed (103.7 this a.m.) and how tall I am (4-8.5). I emphasized the half inch, and she grinned and said he would be sure to include it. I told him not to drop it because otherwise it would shoot my BMI (body mass index) out the roof. He laughed and rolled his eyes; clearly my BMI is far from going out the roof! Dr. Marlon Levy stopped by and looked at my belly. I told him the catheter had never been exteriorized. He poked around trying to find the end, and when I told him that the lower end extended down into my crotch, he said "well, that's rude, isn't it?" He told me that he would need to make an incision in the belly button and another where he could feel the top of the catheter (right at my waist level). He asked who had put it in, and I told him it was Dr. Hudec in Arkansas. Once Levy had examined me, he said he was going to get into his pajamas, and the nurses came to give me my "happy juice," which I called jamba juice. It's probably valium, and it's supposed to relax you while they hook you up to monitors, tubes, etc in the Operating Room. They started wheeling me down the hall to the OR, but I slipped away long before then. The next thing I knew I was back in the recovery room, and the nurse was asking me if I'd like some ice chips (yes). I got asked about pain level, which I described at about a 3. I am mostly aware of it right at the incision point, but not inside my belly. A little while later Ramiro came into the room to join me, and by then I had been given graham crackers and a diet soda. Ramiro opened them for me, and they tasted so good. My mouth was extremely dry, and I had trouble wetting the crackers enough to swallow them. Ramiro gave me a bite of a muffin we got at Central Market. EVen better than the crackers! After several sips of the soda I needed to pee, so I got helped out of bed, but left to go by myself. It wasn't long before they came in with discharge instructions--no showering until tomorrow, no baths while the incision is open, insistence that I take pain meds (and offer of a prescription if I;ve run out of the ones from the transplant surgery) so I don't have any pain. I didn't take a single pain med after the transplant surgery, so that prescription is still unopened! My two biggest symptoms now are the tenderness around the incision (it is not stitched or stapled, just glued), and a sore throat from where they stuck a breathing tube down my throat. We got home about 2:30 and I went straight to bed. I was awakened by Ramiro at 5, reminding me to take my 5 p.m. meds. Then he warmed up some dinner for me--the leftover halibut from Pappadeaux and the leftover rice from Panda Express. Then half a fried pie that Debbie had brought us. Ramiro had eaten lunch when we got home, and later took a nap alongside me. For dinner he had his leftover Pappadeax dinner--fish, crawfish, fries. Ramiro went for his regular walk after dinner, but I stayed home to rest. I still feel a little of the anesthesia effects (like I could slip into a nap very easily), so better to stay indoors and not risk a fall. Speaking of falls, we are watching Nik Wallenda about to start his walk across Niagara Falls--at night!