This is a series of accounts detailing my daily activities as I went through ECT. |
Well, it was here. The 19th of December, 2011. The first of four ECT treatments was to be performed today. Nothing to eat, nothing to drink, and no medication after midnight the night before. First, I had to be at the hospital to check in by the fish tanks at 0800. The PAT lab had to verify information and take vitals, etc. before taking me over to Outpatient Surgery. There, they hooked me up to an IV at about 0930. The procedure was to be performed at 1100. They wheeled me up to the Recovery Room a few minutes before the procedure was to be started. Dr. Nicholson showed up instead of Dr. Whitworth to do the ECT, but that was okay. The only reason it was not my doctor - Dr. Van Dyk - performing the procedure was because he is out of town for the next two weeks. They wheeled my bed into the "Nemo Room", a room with an underwater mural painted on one wall. I signed a consent form for Dr. Nicholson and one for the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist explained what he was going to do as the nurse hooked me up to the monitor with a variety of stickies and wires with snaps on them. Dr. Nicholson placed his own monitoring lead stickies in the appropriate places and then placed the electrodes on both sides of my head. A blood pressure cuff was placed around my arm and pumped up to keep the medicine from reaching that arm so that they could monitor the seizure they were about to induce. The anesthesiologist hit me with the anesthesia and I was told to take some deep breaths of the oxygen that was coming through the mask. That was the best feeling in the world. Sounds odd, but it was. I came back around with a headache about an hour and fifteen minutes later. By 1235, I was getting into a wheelchair and on my way down to Jerrold's van. We went to Burger King and then home, where I slept for five hours. My head hurt, my jaw hurt, but little did I know what would hurt later. I had forgotten. |
#4. Christmas 2011, and a Merry Christmas to All, Remember?
ID #742542 entered on December 25, 2011 at 8:51pm |