Wednesday, March 07, 2007

More fun

I had to be on call last night and I really didn't want to. I didn't have to work much but when they did call me back in it was during another nose bleed for Mike. This is the third major nose bleed in a week. I was able to convince him that he needs to go see his doctor. His blood pressure is on the high side when ever he gets it taken at the doctor's office. When we have taken it at home it is usually a little lower but I think he needs to be considered for some medications. "They" (maybe the AHA) keep recommending lower numbers at what we should consider as "high" blood pressure. Mike agreed to go in and seems to understand that the bleeding "may" not be related to his blood pressure, but that the higher pressure "may" make some other problem worse. He seems to understand that he "may" have to see more than one doctor to fix this problem. We will see what he has done. He called me at 0545 this morning so it was before he could make a doctor appointment. I have found that he is a very captive audience in the middle of a nose bleed. I can gently converse with him and he can't get away.

I visited with my personal anesthetist yesterday about the different risks of anesthesia and pregnancy. She said the major risk I have at this is preterm labor. She said the risks drastically decrease for the baby when you move out of the first trimester. She said they will make slightly different medication choices before, during, and after surgery. She said the baby's heart rate will probably be dropped after surgery because they will still give me pain medications during and after but it won't be abnormal. She said they will keep a very tight window on my vitals during surgery so my body will have the same profusion to my uterus and the baby when not under anesthesia. I won't be give any sedation, which I refused on my last two surgeries, but I wasn't scared to death for those. I didn't have to go to sleep and I wasn't pregnant. She also told me that they very rarely see preterm labor after surgery and it is usually when we do an appendectomy, not a gallbladder. I'm still scared.

So... I see the surgeon tomorrow. I saw my OB today at work and he asked when my surgery was scheduled. I told him it wasn't, as of yet! We will see. This bitch, I mean a coworker was discussing how miserable people can be after they get their gallbladder out to day at work. She was pointing out problems people have that they aren't told about. I'm not sure if she realizes how miserable the person was before. She didn't see them then. Doesn't matter she knows everything. I still have lots of questions for the surgeon tomorrow. I really want to know where I will go. Routine gallbladders spend the night at our hospital. There is nothing routine about me ever. I am wanting to know which nursing unit he will send me to the regular post surgical or OB. The regular post surgical takes care of tons of gallbladder patients and knows their pain. They don't do much with pregnant women and wouldn't be able to do more than stick a doppler on my belly and listen to fetal heart tones. The OB unit would be all over watching the baby and looking for preterm labor, but might not handle the post op pain and so forth as well. If left up to me I will go to OB. We will see what he says. The two units are just different worlds. Neither one is wrong they are just used not as used to taking care of patients that fall in a grey area as to where they should go.

I do believe my body has me convinced that this gallbladder needs to come out. I could hardly breathe last night as I was trying to take care of a patient. Last night was probably the worst of the pain and pressure I have had. I have just felt sick all day today. I'm pretty sure that Cadbury MiniEggs aren't the only thing I am supposed to consume in a day's time. A couple here and there does start to add up calorically though.

1 comment:

Hopeful Mother said...

I hope you feel better soon, and I hope that you get the confidence before your surgery. It is nerve-wracking but I really think everything will go fine. I will be thinking of you!