Oxygen is my mortal enemy when I'm admitted. I ride the cusp of really needing it during exercise and sleep, and when im sick even at rest. This time, I'm feeling so good, that my at-rest seems fine. I did my overnight oxymetry (on my second try....I'm not sleeping here so well yet...) and suprise suprise, too low. This morning after a barrage of unnessicary wakeups, I'm told i need the much hated ABG test. AGAIN. Not DO it again, be threatened again. So, long story short... I MADE IT HAPPEN.
Now, I have to digress for a minute to recognize that I do not deserve a medal. Life with CF and lots of other problems involve scarier, riskier, more painful procedures.. but I've always been a little more anxious then the next guy.. and I hope that anyone out there who might be a few paces behind me, can find comfort in reading what I thought of things, because I can't emphasize enough how much of a chicken I am. You can do it if I can.. honestly
The blood gas was FINE. I'm not going to request them weekly or anything, but I can handle it. I requested a drug to make me less anxious (which was ativan) and I found that the only thing it really achieved was lowering my heart rate. Crying and clenching with a slow, rhythmic heart was a weird sensation. Next, i requested the freezing. I was told by my RT that this part is sometimes considered the "worst part".. nope.. finally: to the main event. At this point I gave in to myself a little and held the hand of my nurse while also cuddling a teddy bear.. *blush*... the worst part is waiting for the unknown, and waiting for them to find your darn artery. He went in once to no avail (although DEFINETLY hit a nerve on his way in--pain scale 1-10: it was 4) and then I had to sit and agonize through thinking about it more while he clotted up teh bleeding from that attempt. Second attempt was a success..
If I could describe what hitting the artery felt like.. I'd say this.. This second try brought no more 'hitting the nerve' feelings, and it was mostly like he tapped into something very full and began releasing the pressure, but not intense pressure like I had anticipated. It was more like I could feel the palpitation of my heart as the syringe took its blood (this took seconds). Weird, but mild. A few minutes later, as my RT was holding my wrist tight and stopping the bleeding with some gauze, I started to feel sore. This actually was probably the worst part, (short of the unknown) and it started to reach down my arm to my elbow. I asked if this was normal and he said 'yes, and it will likely get worse as the freezing wears off'. Nope. Within 5 minutes of that, nothing, no pain no tenderness nothing.
Afterwards, I indulged in phoning my mommy to gloat about my victory. My father answered, and as it turns out, I missed a morning phone call about my grandfather having a heart attack. My feeling of achievement fizzled instantly. Luckily, he's ok. I was grateful for a day that brought
positive outcomes to traumatic events on every scale. Love you Grandad!
Ahh I had my first blood gas this year too. I was so sick and out of it that I actually didn't care though, so I think that was a blessing in disguise. Esp. since mine also took multiple tries :S
ReplyDeleteOuch. Hitting a nerve does not sound pleasant. Sounds like you ended up handling yourself pretty well though!
Make sure that when the day comes for your tx evaluation at TGH (which hopefully won't be for a long time!) that you get your ABG done at St. Mikes though... TGH doesn't use freezing and that makes me ill just thinking about it.
I have the BEST story about TGH and a blood gas! So I go in for assessment, this was in May of this year. I have an ABG scheduled for the first day, first thing. Before this year I have only had 1 in my life, as oxygen was never an issue for me. But from Jan - May 2009 I had about 5 done. St.Mike's is great at them. At TGH, the lady walked in and I was like....'Oh, hey, you're going to use freesing right? I like a lot, I don't mind that my whole arm is frozen for days later, just give er'...and the RT is like (seriously), 'oh no, we're so good here, that we don't need freezing. we're very skilled, unlike St.Mike's. we know what we're doing, trust me, you won't feel a thing.' Yup. Anyhow, she tried 5 times, could not get it done. Hurt like hell!! By the 6th time I kept twitching...like any human being would under that much pain!! Got it 6th time. She was covered in sweat and terrified when she was done! She totally jinxed herself! I told this to B and E (rt's) at St.Mike's and we had a good laugh! So yeah, if they'll let you, do them at st.mike's. Saying that, everything else at TGH is amazing. =)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds horrible Natalia! I would have stopped her by attempt 3 I think lol.
ReplyDeleteThat is so funny that RT said that! E told me the TGH RTs are not trained to use freezing... so that's why they don't do it there. Doesn't seem like a thing that would require much time to be trained with...
Yes, they do let you do them at St. Mikes though--thankfully! Spread the word.
I told the TX Coordinator in advance to cancel my ABG at TGH, then I got E to do it at my clinic appt--they have a nifty new machine that gives instant results right in clinic. So they printed it off within 10 minutes, give it to me and I delivered it to TGH at my tx assessment.
Everyone else at TGH was great though, I agree, umm except the dietitian...