ALS with Anna Vol 3

One thing they should tell you more about ALS is “EXPECT The UNEXPECTED”. It has been almost two weeks since my last post. I fully expected to publish this blog while I was in the hospital. Well you know God laughs when we make plans, and let me tell you he got a good laugh on my account. let me list ways laughed/humbled Jason and I.

Your girl went into this thinking:

1. She was going to be in the hospital at most two days. Ha nope. More like five.

2. She was not nervous or anxious the procedure because it was “so minor”. Big double Haha! Ya girl had a full panic attack.

3. She was going to be in mild pain. Ha! Not even close.

Those are the reasons I wasn’t sitting in a hospital bed, in Mayo, propped up with pillows recovering while I blogged about my experience. That was my plan, all nice and comfy. Can’t you just picture it? Well, I can promise you that was not what it looked like. BUT don’t fret my pet, I will provide some photonic proof.

Let’s start with #2. One thing you need to know about me is I’m a planner. So much so that haft the fun of going on vacation for me is the planning process. Maybe I should of been a travel agent, but being a teacher requires a lot of planning. Come to think of it I didn’t mind writing lesson plans. I like to think plans through. So leading up to surgery day I receive no pre opt instructions. This isn’t my first rodeo I know not to eat and the whole nine yards. Then image my surprise when we (myself, husband, and mother in law) arrive at the hospital and they put me straight into a room, no pre opt room. By this point I’m starting to worry a little. I’m literally thinking what is going on, is this normal for mayo. Then after about two hours no one has come to run a IV, I’m hooked up to the monitors. No talk of when I go back. We finally ask when is my procedure? We are told it might not happen today and today is just to get everything “coordinated”. One I get mad, well mad isn’t the word… I was pissed. In my mind I was going what is the point in me being scheduled to be here if there is not already a plan. We still don’t know the answer to that one. We begin to express our concerns and voice our belief that we were under the impression that the procedure was going to be that morning. It is now noon and there is a possibility of surgery happening today. They are still trying to get ducks in a row, or “coordinate” as they call it. Then at 3 o’clock they come and are like okay lets go. I start to panic. We went from it might happen to lets go. I wasn’t prepared for this. Then everything hits all at once, as they start to take me from the room.

Lucky for me they let Jason and my Daddy come with me to the prep/recovery room. By the time we get there I’m in full blown panic mode. Nothing has gone as planned, and I can’t believe it’s actually fixing to happen. One thing you also need to know about ALS is that it has many side effects, besides the baseline of muscle failure. One that I have is the heighten sense of emotions. So sometimes I laugh/smile or I get extremely upset when I don’t want to. So you take an already stressful situation then add ALS to the mix you have an emotional explosion. Then surgent comes over and starts telling me about every little thing that could go wrong. Jason has already asked multiple times for them to give me something. I’m upset, Jason and Daddy are too. They keep telling us before we prep her for the spinal block we’ll give her something. They try to get Jason to step back from me. While literally start to roll me for the spinal block, still haven’t given me anything. I can’t communicate at all at this point. It feels like things are moving a hundred miles an hour, Jason completely puts his foot down and tells them to give me something right now! Once they do I’m calm and then out. I wake up in recovery with Jason by my side and all is well… Or so I think.

I don’t know about, but that’s enough trauma for one day.

~He has a plan and I have a purpose~

-ALS with Anna

Part two coming real soon!