IVC Filter Update

The IVC filter placement wasn't as bad as I'd expected. I arrived at 7 am and wasn't taken to the procedure table until 2 1/2 hours later. Until then, I was in a hospital bed behind a mostly closed curtain listening to the intake nurses ask the same list of questions to the patient in the space next to mine and on the other side of him. One man's platelet count was so low they were making him wait for his procdure, then the little man next to me had to be physically lifted by a team of nurses from his wheelchair onto the hospital bed. The intake nurse had to ask him each question at least 3 times to get an answer, so I laughed a little to myself when she got to the question, "Do you wear a hearing aid device?" When he finally answered her after she repeated the question a few times, his answer was "No, but I should!"

My husband was in the waiting room this entire time chatting it up with the low platelet man's wife. He's still taking about this little elderly woman, who he recipe swapped with for hours. Her husband had suffered from bone cancer and recently had a blood transfusion. He felt so good after the transfusion, he'd been working in the yard, which he'd not done in years. It's amazing what you learn about people you've never met and how conversations in hospital waiting rooms can touch your heart. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to see a loved one suffer from such a horrible illness. It's times like these that force us to see how truly blessed we are.

With that said, I feel guilty for whining about the IVC filter on the last posting. As I said, it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. It was very uncomfortable, the sedation wasn't nearly enough b/c I knew exactly where I was and what was happening, but the numbing shots hurt more than the procedure itself. I could feel the catheter moving up my vein, but it wasn't terribly painful. I didn't know I'd have to lay flat in an outpatient room for 3 hours after the procedure, but it was a good opportunity to sneak in a nap.

~34 Hours Pre-Lapband~