Mayo Clinic - Day Three. EKG & Endoscope

I reported for my 10:35am appointment this morning for my EKG. The appointment was in Davis Building 2 East.

I didn't have very long to wait. As soon as I sat down, the nurse appeared and called about four of us back. The nurse led me to a dressing room in the back and gave me a gown to change into to. She told me to leave my stuff in my dressing room and to take the key with me. Then, I went around the corner and laid on the table in the room while my EKG was done. The tech doing my EKG talked to me about the Falcons and how disappointed he was that the Ravens won the super bowl. We started talking about UGA games, since I have to deal with the drunk people after the games. He was telling me how horrible the UGA and Florida games were. The other tech behind the curtain working on someone else was also commenting on our conversation and chiming in on what he felt strongly about. They told me that I was their favorite patient for the day. That made me smile. I think they were amused that I love football.

So, the EKG was normal and I was released. My next appointment is at 1:30pm today for my endoscope and my Bravo test. I'm going to take a nap until then.

I started a new page last night based on humor. When I went to sleep last night, it only have fifteen likes. Now, it has over 100. The page is LAUGHTER THROUGH GP. I figured that Gastroparesis needed a little humor to cheer members up and it was a niche that hasn't been carved out yet. =)

At 1:30pm I reported to the patient registration desk in the Mayo building to register for my endoscope.

The receptionist sent me up to Mayo 5 North to check in for my procedure.

Before I did anything else, I stopped and looked at the views from the fifth floor. They were amazing, so I took some pictures of that as well.

I sat down and went over my medication list. I crossed a bunch out that the doctor took me off of and answered a questionaire about past surgeries and medical issues. I sat with papers in hand waiting for the nurse to call me back.

The nurse called me back and had me put on a gown. The attached me to a blood pressure cuff (my BP was high, no changes there), and got my IV in my right hand on the first try. She asked me a lot of questions and then I met the doctor. He was nice. Then, I met the anesthesiologist who was nice as well. They didn't waste any time and they wheeled me back in my bed for the endoscope. They had me lay on my side and bite down on a green plastic ring. The anesthesiologist pushed the drugs to make me sleep. I remember looking at the screen and then waking up in recovery. I cracked jokes with the nurse after I woke up.

The nurse told me that I would feel like there's something stuck in my throat because of the BRAVO TEST. The capsule attached to my esophagus will fall away by Friday. I came back to the hotel, ate a bit, and then went to sleep. I'm about to go back to sleep now because I still feel exhausted.

Mayo Clinic - Day Two. Gastric Emptying Test

Today was the long dreaded, gastric emptying test. We arrived at Mayo at 7:15am to check in the registration desk in the Mayo Building. We were supposed to meet with a financial adviser but the person who checked me sent both my husband and myself up to the second floor, back to radiology.

After we got back up to Mayo 2 South, I checked in at the front desk for my 8:00am appointment. They told me to have a seat and that someone would be with me shortly. I sat down with my husband and put my head on his shoulder. I promptly fell asleep. Then, a tech comes out and calls four names, mine being one of the four. He told us to follow him to nuclear medicine. As we went down the long hallway, I passed sub-waiting room B that I had to wait in yesterday. I made it to the end of the hall and took a left until I got to nuclear medicine. He ushered all four of us in and sat us each separately down in different "rooms." I say rooms but they were covered by curtains. One of the techs came up to me and presented me with the radioactive eggs over toast.

They gave us whole milk to wash it all down with. I called one of the techs over because halfway through the eggs, I became full. I asked how much of the meal we had to eat in order for the test to work. She said for me to ignore the toast and eat the eggs, that they were the most important part. So, I tried to eat as much as I could, and I did finish the eggs but left a third of the toast unfinished. I washed it down with the milk because the food kept getting caught in my throat, much like the barium tablet did yesterday.

After I ate the meal, I stood in front of the gastric scanner and took my first picture. The tech had me stand there for two minutes while the picture was being recorded. He handed me a piece of paper that said I had to repeat the scanning at 9:10am, 10:10am, and 12:10pm. The piece of paper had me circle whether or not I had a bowel movement in between scannings. Of course, I didn't have any bowel movements.

I went back to the front desk and checked in for the 9:10am scan. The receptionist sent me back to nuclear medicine and I made my way back there. I stood in front of the scanner and the food was still sitting in my stomach an hour after I had eaten the eggs. I stood there for two minutes while the tech captured another picture.

I waited until 10:00am and checked in with the front desk. On the way back to nuclear medicine, I vomited in the bathroom. I only threw up some of the eggs and toast. Then, I began to get nervous. I remember the doctor telling me in the hospital that if I threw up, the would have to start the test all over again. I made it back to nuclear medicine and told the tech what happened. He positioned me in front of the gastric scanner and started my two minute picture capture. He analyzed the results in the computer in the other room and talked to a colleague. He said that I had only thrown up 10% of the meal and that we still had enough to finish the test. He said that he was going to inform the doctor about the vomiting.

On a side note, they wouldn't let me take any kind of nausea medicine or pain medicine for this test because the doctor didn't want my medicine to skew the results of the test.

The next image was going to be at 12:10pm. I found a chair and got out my kindle and headphones. I managed to curl up in that tiny chair, in a ball, and get some sleep. Which is good, because the gastric spasms started about 20 minutes after I ate the radioactive meal and it was either try and sleep or cry because of the pain. I slept until my next picture was due.

At 12:00pm, I checked in with the front desk and went back to nuclear medicine. I had my final gastric scan done and I could still see all of the food in my stomach. It didn't move hardly at all. I gave them the sheet that said I didn't have a bowel movement between the different image captures.

Now, I'm exhausted. I think I may try and nap for a bit. My stomach is swollen and the spasms are still happening. I'll be happy when the rest of this toast finally comes up so that I don't have to deal with the pain anymore.

Tomorrow, I have an EKG and a scope. Wish me luck!

Day 5 - Post Surgery

So, I had my ERCP done today. They found a sludge like material along with some gravel like material in my bile ducts. The doctor cleaned everything out and made an incision in the sphincter in my bile duct so that it will release bile for digestion easier.

The heart echo and EKG were both normal.

The doctor said that he was going to watch me overnight to see how I felt. And of course, I'm really annoyed now because I'm on pain medicine and my husband is trying to be super helpful. That's even more annoying when I'm on pain medicine. The kitchen just brought me food and he wouldn't let me eat it because I'm not supposed to have anything by mouth until tomorrow. I snuck a couple of carrots though ... and that lemon icing cake looked really tasty. =( I should have eaten it anyway, I'm starving. Now, I'm even grumpier. It's mean to put cake in front of me when I can't eat it.

My nurse is going to give me my antinausea medication and I'm going to try and sleep since there's nothing else to really do and I can't drink anything to ease the scratchiness in my throat.

But, everything's OK so far. I guess we'll wait and see if I develop inflammation of my pancreas.

Day 5 - Surgery Today

The nurse came in and took another EKG today since my last one was a bit abnormal. The doctor yesterday said that the Zofran could have caused that too and took me off of it. He said for me to list it as an allergy from now on. Another nurse came in and took an ECHO of my heart as well, just to follow up on the abnormal EKG. If everything looks fine, I'm having my ERCP procedure done at 2:00pm today.

It was hard to sleep last night. My night nurse lectured me and told me that my pain medicine was as needed, I didn't have to have it every two hours. The problem is that when I go to lay on that side, it's startling and wakes me up with a jolt because it hurts so much. Plus, people kept waking me up to get my vital signs and to draw up lab work - it's hard to sleep in a hospital. She's the second night nurse I've had who has lectured me about pain medicine.

I hope after today, I'll need less of it. I kept trying to explain that I have liver stones and they're painful but I guess the night nurses don't care. They probably don't like that I make them work.

I'm laying here pretty nervous and tired. I want to get this procedure over and done with. My doctor was also going to find out the results of the smart pill and share it with me. I've been placed on blood pressure medication as needed while in the hospital because my blood pressure keeps going up.

I guess I'll let you know what they find as soon as I know! Wish me luck!

Day 4 - Telemetry

The nurse told me today that I'm going to be on telemetry today. I guess they're still monitoring my heart. My blood pressure came down with the medicine from 180/117 to 123/82 today. So, that's a big improvement. I feel a little better already! The doctor came in to see me and said that they would do the procedure for the ERCP tomorrow. He said it could be around late afternoonish like 2pm or 3pm. I'm a bit nervous and scared. I hope this procedure works and that I'm feeling much better after. I have a feeling that once they go in, they won't find anything.

I'm meeting with a cardiologist today because my qrt wave is prolonged in my EKG. My nurse said that Zofran can cause this but they're keeping me on telemetry as a precaution. So, I guess I'll be able to update you more on that later.

The Cardiologist came in and told me that they were going to keep me on blood pressure medication as needed until I left the hospital. After that, I need to make an appointment with my regular doctor and talk to him about my pressure. I also am having an echo of my heart done in the morning to see if there are any concerning abnormalities. The Zofran has been stopped and I guess they're waiting for the Zofran to leave my system before they can test my heart.

The Cardiologist did say that my blood sugar was high yesterday but they reran the tests and I'm not diabetic, so that's good news. I wasn't aware that there was a possibility that I could be.

I'm still wearing the oxygen and now I have a telemetry unit hooked up to me. I'm starting to have more wires than Frankenstein! =) Oh! I also just became the mayor of my hospital on Foursquare. Sad, right?