Tuesday 16 February 2010

Time flies.

Yesterday poor old Mike had to go off to the hospital for a gastroscopy to check out the heart burn he's been having. The consultant wanted to make sure it wasn't anything serious before starting treatment as it seems some of the drugs can cause problems. Now Mike has trouble swallowing painkillers if he thinks about it too much, so the whole "swallow a camera" thing filled him with utter dread. I made sure he got up in plenty of time for breakfast as he wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink after eight in the morning. He decided against corn flakes as he was convinced they would still be there and stick to the camera (you know the way they stick to the bowl and spoon if you are not careful.)
By the time we got to the hospital not only was he starving, but also a nervous wreck. A very nice nurse talked him through what was going to happen and asked him if he was having the throat spray or the sedative. Mike decided that to be on the safe side he had better have both.
Well I sat nervously in the waiting room, half expecting to see him running out or security running in (he was worried he might start kicking them.) Others went off and came back, it seems the throat spray option only takes ten minutes. Eventually a smiling face appeared. They had given him a cup of tea and some biscuits and he went straight to the vending machine to get some chocolate (we did comment to the nurse that it was a little cruel to have a vending machine when most of the patients were being starved!) It seems it wasn't anywhere as bad as he thought it would be and said next time he would just have the throat spray.
"It only took 5 minutes and then I was wheeled out into a side ward and given tea and biscuits. I can't have been gone long. I don't think they gave me any sedative, I feel really wide awake."
Imagine his face when I told him he'd been gone an hour. I think he must have fallen asleep!

Lorna

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