I Can’t Forget But I Don’t Remember What
Posted on | October 4, 2007 at 12:21 pm | 2 Comments
I wonder what happened to me yesterday. I know I went to the hospital to have a panendoscopy test done to help determine the cause of a swallowing problem I’ve been having the last couple of years. This is where they stick a camera down your throat and take pictures of the insides of your guts. They also wanted to do some dilation of my narrowed esophagus and take a biopsy. I was skittish because I had one of these procedures many years ago and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Back then (different hospital), they didn’t sedate me very well and my gag reflex went wild trying to vomit out the camera-on-a-rope. This time I wanted to be sure I was going to be properly protected from the same thing happening. The nurse told me that they were going to give me a sedative (”something in the Valium family but more powerful”) and some kind of narcotic for pain. The narcotic also apparently causes some mild amnesia in some people. Oh yeah!
So the last thing I remember before the procedure is talking to the doctor about my symptoms and she was looking concerned and nodding her head, and the nurse was saying she was about to administer the drugs. The next thing I know, I’m being escorted off the table and into the recovery room, where my sister was waiting for me. (You need to have someone drive you home from these things; they also recommend not doing any financial transactions or writing e-mails to ex-lovers for the remainder of the day.) I remember being in the recovery room for a little while before they let us go. My sister said it was very amusing (but increasingly annoying) how I kept asking the nurse what the results of the procedure were, since I would forget them almost as soon as she said them.
I had arranged to take the day off work, since they said not to do anything important for the rest of the day, and so I was looking forward to spending the afternoon at home, catching up on TV and e-mails and such. Instead, I slept. Boy, did I sleep. I got up to eat dinner and call N and all that, but whenever I tried to watch TV, I would fall back asleep. Finally I gave up and went to bed. I’m still feeling pretty tired today, but nothing like yesterday.
So, I have no idea how unpleasant the procedure was. For all I know, I was screaming in pain the whole time and it was (thankfully) redacted from my memory. I just hope there was no anal probing or dental work involved. I know the doctor and nurse couldn’t have taken the time to rifle through my wallet and laugh at my driver’s license photo, since I left my wallet with my sister. I don’t seem to be feeling any pain today, aside from a little scratchiness in my throat. I’m glad to see that we’ve come a long way in the camera-down-the-throat technology since the last time I had it done 15 years ago or whenever. Thanks, amnesia drugs! I haven’t had blackouts like that since college.
Pet Peeve Of The Day: Cell phones that do a different ring tone when they’re plugged in and charging.
Latre.
Comments
2 Responses to “I Can’t Forget But I Don’t Remember What”
October 4th, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
So…you don’t remember that e-mail you sent me? I’ve been trying to block it out of memory all afternoon. I mean, to even think of doing that to a poor innocent baby goat!
October 5th, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
One of my first posts ever was about my kid getting a naso-gastric feeding tube shoved up his nose and into his stomach. It was not pleasant to watch.
I hope the find and fix whatever is troubling you.