in about an hour i'll be leaving my parents' house & heading to HCMC to go under general anesthesia again. this time i'm having an exploratory laprascopy & an EGD (i can't recall the exact name, but they're sticking a tube down my throat). about a month ago, may 15th to be exact, i went into the ER at methodist hospital with abdominal pains so bad all i could do is cry. a coworker had to drive me in actually because i couldn't drive myself. they did some tests in the ER but couldn't find anything emergent, so i was sent home with orders to follow up.

pn (park nicollet the medical system my main doctor works from & the medical system of methodist hospital) decided i have an ulcer, put me on meds, & said we'll see what happens. i went to HCMC & my surgeon disagreed. pn called me last week to schedule an endoscopy, i nicely told them my surgeon disagreed with them & could they please call HCMC & come to a conclusion on a diagnosis. yeah. that didn't go over well. if you want to feel seething indignancy try telling a private practice doctor that your county doctor thinks they're wrong.

went back to HCMC yesterday for my surgical follow up & because i've had two bad attacks in the past two weeks (one last wednesday & one this past monday) my surgeon decided the best course of action is to go in & look around to see what's going on. i found this out yesterday morning. he had mentioned surgery when i saw him two weeks ago, but my brain somehow deciphered it to mean i'd only have surgery if things got bad enough for me to go to the er. i didn't really comprehend that if it was still bad over two weeks that i'd be heading back under the scalpel. ye-haw. *eye roll*

i did start to freak out yesterday, i won't deny that. but my surgeon doesn't seem terribly worried, evidently it's just a simple in & out outpatient procedure. he said i'll be fine & dandy by sunday to head to the science museum with my dad. i'll be honest, i did ask if we could do it later because sunday was my birthday & he said i probably shouldn't schedule this around my social calendar. but we could wait if i wanted, but he didn't feel it was the best option. yeah. evidently when faced with possibly life threatening medical diagnosis my first response is denial.

flashback eight years: saturday of easter weekend in 2000 my parents took me to regions hospital er because i was having crippling stomach pains, all i could do was cry. they did some tests & realized i had pancreatitus, which can be really serious if untreated. they said my gallbladder had to come out, i had stones & it was causing serious problems, but they couldn't take out my gallbladder until the pancreatitus resolved so the er doc wanted to admit me. my response was "i have a final project due on monday, can i go home & i promise i'll come back monday afternoon?" the doctor looked at me as if i was completely loony tunes & off my lithium & said "no, you're not leaving. this could KILL you." most people would accept that, but me being me & being one fucking stubborn bitch, i still asked him if it was open to negotiations. it wasn't.

time to shut down my computer so i can get off to the hospital. i'll be blogging later today, hopefully, if i'm not too nauseous from the anesthesia. whatever they gave me last time for anesthesia made me SO sick. omg. that was horrible nauseous. i'm contemplating spewing now as i recall the sensation. but, at least this time it's not as serious as it was last time. wish me well!