Endoscopy

I think I was real lucky when the doctor ordered an upper Flex-C, or something like that. Just the week before, my wife Diane had undergone an upper and a lower, whew! We arrived at her doctors office at 6am and he took her right in. Then at 15 minutes after noon the nurse ask me to come help my wife to the car. Diane was still groggy and didn’t even know the procedure had happened yet. The doctor put her fast to sleep. She said she couldn’t even tell that she had been probed from either end. Her procedure including wake up time took about five hours, but I guess they really had a good look around, up and down.

Now with this prior experience under my belt I figured that since I was only having the upper part, that it would take about two or three hours for me. Wrong answer, how about less than thirty minutes? Yep, from the time I walked into Dr. Cowan’s office for the endoscopy procedure to the time the nurse was leading me out was less than 30 minutes.

The procedure was done by Dr. Hiler and he is a very gentle doctor. The only thing I did not like was the taste of the throat spray. Food and flavors are very important to me, both of which I had been deprived of since midnight before. Now here it is 2pm and by now I feel like I am ready to eat anything that can not out run me. Oh, the taste of that throat spray, yuck, yuck! I really don’t know what happened next. I think I remember someone putting a plastic device between my teeth but it is all foggy. The next thing I remember is looking up and seeing my lovely wife standing there and I heard Dr. Hiler say he gave me something to reverse the first shot he gave me. The Nurse held out her hand and said are you ready to go? Slightly confused I raised up took her hand, waved bye bye to Dr. Hiler and followed her lead down the hall.

In the waiting room Diane helped me with my coat and commented on how fast that was. I remember saying, "ugh hungh…" (how in the world do you spell that sound you make to agree with someone?)

Now the rest of this story I do remember: My Mom was planning to take Diane and I out for one last big eat out. But she was not able to go after all. Instead she gave me the money for Diane and I to go without her. I was in the mood for Seafood and lots of it. We went to the Gold Strike Casino for their Friday night all you can eat Steak, Lobster, Crab, Shrimp and lots more meal. I knew that after the surgery I would probably never get to do this again so I went at it "Whole Hog!"

I ate slowly because I knew I had all night to do this. I skipped the breads and vegetables and went straight to the steak and lobster. One nice juicy New York strip steak and two large lobster tails. Then a plate full of Buffalo shrimp so large I ate them with a knife and fork. Each shrimp was nearly as large as the lobster tail, they were great. Scallops, frog legs, stuffed crabs, lobster claws and so many other things I just can’t name them all - but they were great. I finished off the meal with a slice of cherry pie that was so good my tongue danced in my mouth! Yes with all this dancing in my mouth I slipped and bit the side of my tongue! That signaled me it was time to stop I was having too much fun. Time lapse was only 90 minutes but I was satisfied.

Diane and I pulled a few one armed bandit handles on the way out but only about ten dollars between us both. What a wonderful evening. Thanks Mom for picking up the tab, and thanks Diane for going with me.

Now get ready for preoperative procedures on Wed Nov 11th.