A Self Portrait...

08 December 2015

All the Long, Long Day

Endoscopy EUS
Is an endoscopy examination combined with Ultra sound test.

First things First
I had an appointment at 10 am at St James Hospital in Dublin. Naturally I no sooner saw the address than I went into one. I  rang my local hospital, Mayo General in Castlebar and shrieked that it was impossible I couldn't leave my cats and dogs for so long, I couldn't get there in time and anyway I don't like Dublin. So there.

For some inexplicable reason Mayo General were unmoved the clinic insisted I go, they said Mayo General doesn't do Endoscopy EUS. So there!

I cried I really did I know its silly and if anyone is ever old enough to know better I am but I'm not one hundred percent fit and anyway I'm very fond of getting my own way and this time I couldn't, of course I was upset! I was spitting nails!

However in due course and let me tell you it took several hours I calmed down, made inquiries and after my usual dithering booked a cab, there really wasn't a lot choice, there is no as far as I know, quicker way to get to Dublin by 10 am there are buses one goes at 01.am and arrives at 5.30 am the other one goes at 5.30 am and arrives in Dublin at 10.30 am, neither are what you might call ideal and getting to town in the pitch black, freezing cold night is not ideal either.

So, at enormous expense I went by cab which involved leaving home at about 6.20 am and getting to St James in Dublin at 9.0 am (ish).

St James Hospital

Is huge. I bet it covers acres of Dublin and is the major employer in the area. Its also efficient and the staff are kind and empathic. As you might have noticed I do like St James Hospital.

I was taken into the Endoscopy department at about 10.30 am which is good for a hospital department that seemed packed to the gills. Once there I lay on a trolley type bed until the doctor was ready. I fell asleep.

A nurse woke me at about 12 and took me into the test area where still on the trolley I was told to get into the right position which apparently is lying on your left side. The staff seemed to take it for granted that I would have sedation I said "no" Well that's not quite right I asked what sedation involved and they said it meant I would need a responsible adult... and I would have to be driven home and watched for twenty four hours. I don't like being watched for five minutes. I said no sedation!

I must be honest this wasn't an heroic act or ignorant bravery I have had an endoscopy test before I know how gut wrenchingly awful it is but I also know it doesn't take long and if you don't have the anesthetic you can go home almost immediately and sulk at your own time and at your own leisure.

I had the test they tried to take my teeth off me but I held them in a tissue in my hand and refused to let go.

I did not kick the doctor or the nurse, which is a little, really quite minor, indiscretion I have been known to indulge in with doctors and dentists.  I was apart from my attachment to my teeth very well behaved I gagged on the truly appalling stuff they use to numb your throat and I gagged and gagged when they put the endoscopy tube down my throat I wasn't being difficult I defy anyone to cope with an alien object being shoved down their throat without gagging. A long way down the throat that is not the usual tickle the tonsils job at all.

The doctor twiddled with the tube moving it here and there and naturally I gagged at each move He and the nurse talked all the while mostly about nothing that interested me but  there was something about a gall stone moving He said passing but I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed if a gall stone passed me.

Afterward I had to wait for the numbness to wear off and for the doctor to come and talk to me. I was only slightly restless. I mean I know I kept looking at my watch and glaring at nurses but I didn't actually say anything well not for an hour or so, and then I asked one of the nurses how much longer I would have to wait because I did want to get back to Mayo that night and I had two cats and three dogs sitting with their legs crossed and one of the dogs, she who is a tiny little pain in the arse, can't be entirely trusted with anything least of all her own bladder.

Good News! I Hope

The doctor came to see me and he said he thinks my solitary gall stone passed but there looks to be something he called gristle. I don't know from gall stones I asked about my Pancreas and he said. He thought it looked the right size! No inflammation!!

I think I have to wait for the full diagnosis from my GP or the consultant at Mayo General but I'm smiling I do at this minute think its good news. Phew!

Going Home

Involved a long walk until I got fed up and got a bus to the bus station All day I had promised myself that I would get a MacDonalds and save it to heat in the microwave when I got home, and just as I was on the bus I saw a Burger King and a MacDonalds right next door to each other. I immediately decided to get one of each. I got up and the bus driver put his hand out and said "No, you're not there yet" And the bloody burgers shot out of sight! But not out of mind all the way home I was thinking of the burgers I didn't get.

I got to the bus station just after 3 pm and the bus home was due to leave at 4 pm. I relaxed, bought a Cajun Chicken sandwich a cup of tea and a packet of eclairs for the addict.

The bus was on time and full, so many people travelling its a bit shocking when you think many of them were going home from work. It must mean they have to do a four hour journey twice a day to earn a living and that's tragic and something any government should be ashamed of.

I got back to town at about 8 pm called a cab and was home giving the dogs and cats a run in the pitch black garden at 8.30 pm.

And that's it!

The whole story of my trip to Dublin, the Endoscopy test and yet again the total absence of burgers. But! I think its good news and I'm very grateful to the kind doctors, nurses and admin staff of St James Hospital Dublin who treated a recalcitrant and not always polite woman with courtesy, respect and kindness.



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