I was up early yesterday morning to travel to San Marcelino for a doctor’s appointment with the ENT who will perform the nasal polypectomy. She reviewed the clearance documents from the cardiologist and pulmonary physician and said we were good to go forward with the surgery. She suggested I check into Baypointe Hospital on Friday; she would operate on Saturday, and if all goes well, I could be released on Monday. I responded there was no way I was staying confined to the hospital for that long and reminded her that when we first discussed the procedure, I was going to be admitted on a Sunday and released on Monday. She backed off and said the minimum period for post-op observation was twenty-four hours, and unless I was bleeding or had other difficulties, I could be released the following day. I’ve subsequently read up on the procedure (see link above), and at least in the USA, it is an outpatient operation with no hospitalization required.
So, I will be checking into Baypointe on Saturday morning and having the surgery performed that day. I expect to be set free on Sunday. I’ve been quoted a price of 150,000 pesos ($3000), which covers all expenses associated with the surgery. I’ve been suffering from blocked sinuses for a year now and have had four different doctors say that the only fix was the polypectomy. I’ve resisted getting this done, not because I’m afraid of the operation, but instead, I fear being put under general anesthesia and never waking up again because of my COPD. The surgeon is aware of my lung condition and assures me the anesthesiologist will closely monitor my oxygen levels during the procedure. So, I’m trusting my life that that will be the case. I guess in the worst-case scenario, dying blissfully ignorant in your sleep is not a bad way to go when your time on earth is over. I hope mine isn’t, but there’s only one way to find out.
After the doctor’s visit, we drove back to SBMA and did the weekly grocery shopping. I confess that I passed on some items, telling myself I’d wait and see if I still need them next week. Yeah, I know that’s stupid negative thinking, but sometimes I just can’t help myself.
When beer o’clock rolled around, I headed into town. I decided to skip my regular Tuesday floating bar visit and spend the evening in Barretto instead.
Sloppy Joe’s is the first bar I pass on my journey to Barretto, and my pal Chris and his gal Shie waved for me to join them.
I didn’t really have a plan for the evening, but I could see Cheap Charlies in the distance and figured I’d visit there next. But once I was out front, I saw the bar was full of RSL members (the Australian equivalent to the VFW), so I decided to continue up the highway. I hadn’t been to Blue Butterfly for a while, so I rectified that neglect.
I had a batch of brownies with me, and the three girls serving the outside area at BB were clamoring for a taste. I told them that’s what they were for and bought a drink for each to wash them down. Soon enough, the inside gals came out for a brownie, too (no drinks for them, though), and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I cracked my usual lame joke about brownies for brown knees, and they politely laughed. It was an enjoyable visit, and they reminded me that the Hash On-Home would be there this Monday. Hmm, I’d forgotten about that. I don’t expect I’ll be up for a Hash hike, but hopefully, I’ll be sufficiently recovered to come to the Hash Circle. We shall see.
I popped into It Doesn’t Matter next. It was dead, so I had one beer and left. I tried Green Room, and it was too crowded for my tastes, so I settled into Wet Spot and ordered a beer. Neither of my regulars was working, and manager Brett was off too, so I got bored and went to Alaska for my nightcap. I had a nice time there and actually enjoyed the show one of the dancers put on. No lady drink, but I did give her a 50 peso tip. I got home well before 8 p.m. and made up a batch of smoothies for Swan, my helper, and me.
And for the second night in a row, I had difficulty sleeping. My tracker says I went to sleep at 8:23 and woke again at 9:23. Didn’t fall asleep again until 2:34, then awoke for good at 3:50. Making matters worse, my TV wouldn’t connect to Netflix, so I had to settle for mostly lame YouTube videos to fill the sleepless hours. I guess I should be looking forward to Saturday when I know I’ll be in a drug-induced deep sleep. I still want to wake up early, though!
Despite the lack of sleep, I participated in the Wednesday Walkers group hike this morning, and I’ll be heading out to feed the gals at Hideaway a bit later. Life goes on. Hopefully.
I assume your blog has a “schedule post” function the way mine does. If you’re feeling morbid, then write a scheduled post along the lines of “If you’re reading this post, it means I’m dead.—etc., etc.” Final words, last bits of wisdom, “I bequeath $100,000 to my biggest commenter Kevin,” etc. Schedule the post to appear Monday morning. Have your operation Saturday morning, get released on Sunday, and you’ll have plenty of time to take the “I’m dead” post down before its scheduled appearance Monday morning. If you do die, well, there’ll be no one to stop the post from appearing and, as Bill says to Beatrix in Kill Bill: Volume 2, “That will be the story of you.”
Sorry to hear about the insomnia. I wonder whether the polypectomy will help with that: breathe freer, sleep easier.
The weekend approaches. Fingers and tentacles crossed!
@Kevin. LOL
John, you are kind of like Goldilocks with your bar crawl. “I popped into It Doesn’t Matter next. It was dead, so I had one beer and left. I tried Green Room, and it was too crowded for my tastes”. Need to find the spot that is “just right!!”
The only time I recall being under full anesthesia was having some surgery on my wrist after falling off a motorcycle. I remember waking up and feeling absolutely refreshed. Don’t know what it was or how the doctor did it, but it seemed like the best sleep I had ever had. Here’s hoping that your experience with both the surgery and anesthesia are the same.
You don’t want to be overdoing the general anesthesia fears to that hospital. There’s a possiblity they undershoot the necessary sedative and you wake up mid op. Better to get tanked up with lovely yummy drugs and wake up smiling Sunday.
Insomnia is a bitch. JP recounts his day’s every moment when he gets it. He finds it puts him back to sleep. But then having consumed alcohol changes its nature, as the dopamine is either rushing out or charging back in as the booze leaves the body (can’t remember which).
Dan, that’s a good point. I woke up during a colonoscopy once and started screaming, “rape!”
Who is JP? But yeah, I’ve noticed when I’ve had a few, I can fall asleep, then I wake up when the booze has worn off and can’t fall asleep again. Weird.
HaHa! I love the Goldilocks analogy! With 40 bars in town it makes it harder to find the “just right” one, but I won’t give up!
Yes, that’s my hope: to wake up feeling refreshed and able to breathe through my nose again. Here’s hoping!
I’ve never seen a “schedule post” option; I’ll have to check into that. It would be pretty cool to write my own obituary. Anyway, the odds are good I’ll survive. And sorry to disappoint–I started with 100,000 in my savings account, but that was six years ago. I’ll be paying for the surgery with my credit card.
I had almost seven hours of sleep last night, it’s the intermittency of the insomnia that is tough to figure.