Hello, everyone, I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving! :D First, I'd like to apologize for not posting sooner. After I had the procedure I was instructed by my nurse not to work any machinery, plus I was out of it. I stayed in the bed most of the day. Well anyways, I was scheduled to have my endoscopy at Southern Regional Hospital, here in at Atlanta, Ga. @10:00am. Even though I had the procedure a year before and somewhat knew what to expect, I was still nervous as all get out....lol. In fact, I was so nervous my blood pressure shot up to 150/116. A few days before my scheduled procedure I was pre-registered over the phone and was told that I need to be at the hospital at least two hrs. before the procedure. So, I showed up at around 15 after 8am. I registered and signed all of the necessary papers. Then, I was called in by the nurse and given instructions to take off my shoes and my jacket and shirt. She said I could leave my pants on since I was having an endoscopy. So, I took off my clothes and put on the hospital gown. There were two nurses in the room with me that were getting me prepared for my procedure. One nurse (Valerie), asked me my medical background while the other nurse (Michelle), checked my vitals and tried to find a vein to put the IV in. While Michelle was checking my vitals, I asked Valerie about the type of anesthesia I'd be taking. I let her know of my concerns because of what happened to Kanye West mother. She let me know that she understood my concerns, but told me not to worry. Valerie said that I'd be taking a different type of anesthesia. She said the type of anesthesia I'd be taking is known as "MAC" (Monitored Anesthesia Care) She said basically what this means is an anesthesiologist has been requested to participate during my endoscopy. I was told that I would be relaxed more so than in a deep sleep. She said with anything of course, there's always risks, but with this type of procedure and with there being someone monitoring, that the risks are EXTREMELY rare. Let me tell you, hearing that made me feel a whole lot better. Michelle wasn't able to find a vein in my arm to put the IV in. So she checked my left hand and found one there. As soon as she did find one, she put in the IV and then rolled me into the room where I would have the endoscopy done. At about 9:35am, the anesthesiologist began to put the anesthesia inside of me, so I could relax. At around five minutes after 10am I was in the recovery room. I couldn't believe how the procedure was over that quick. Another nurse (Angela) told me that I would be here for about 30 minutes. She gave me a list of "Discharge Instructions" I should follow after the procedure. Some of the instructions were:
She said that I may experience a few symptoms, but said that these would be common:
She said that if any symptoms such as:
exist then I should report this to my physician immediately. Then Angela said that if I need immediate attention then I should come to the Emergency Room. After she gave me my instructions my Gastro Dr. came in the room and told me that everything turned out fine. He said that my stricture from last year has healed very well and that I should continue taking Prilosec 20mg. and only make an appointment if need be. When I got home from the hospital, I tried to eat a little breakfast but I had no appetite. So, I went to bed and slept most of the day. The only symptoms I experienced were a mild sore throat. I want to thank you all so much for staying in touch to find out what happened with my endoscopy. If you would like to stay tuned to what goes on with my acid reflux or any news concerning this condition, then I would like to encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you again. I wish you a wonderful day and a better tomorrow.
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