Feeding Tube

Today will be a first, I'll be having my very first surgery ever, I'm having a food tube inserted into my stomach, yup, I'll be part cyborg, but not as radical as the above photo.  I'm apprehensive about the food tube, it's like this foreign object invading my body and have to clean (even if I don't use it, I must keep the tube and the hole around the tube connection clean) this thing for the next 10 weeks.

My wife and I arrived at Valley Hospital at 1:00 p.m. in her Silverado Truck; I thought that the truck would be easier for me after the surgery because I wouldn't have to stoop down into a car seat.

We were immediately breezed through admittance (I pre-admitted yesterday and did all the required paperwork and insurance information) and was taken to the waiting area where my wife took away all my valuables as requested from the front desk.  I guess they are worried about liability if something valuable shows up missing.

After about ten minutes I was told to leave my wife temporarily as they prep me for surgery.  The nurse led me to a large room that was divided my many curtains into small modules.  My module looked like the size of a van and had all the equipment you would expect in an ambulance.  The nurse told me to strip down and put on one of those infamous back-opened gowns and put my clothes into this big plastic bag.

I spent about fifteen minutes waiting when they allowed my wife to visit me in the module until I'm wheeled into the operating room.  As usual when I'm nervous, I told her a bunch on one-liners, and comments about the nurses...like when one nurse stopped and asked me if I was Robert...sorry, no patient named Robert here.  The nurse quickly left and I said with gentle sarcasm, "that does make me feel so secure."  I must be watching too many "House" television shows.

Finally, after arriving at the hospital for over an hour, I was wheeled into the operating room where I was introduced to my anesthesiologist.  He explained what he was going to do, how long it would take, etc.  The nurses put all these gadgets on me, a finger HRM, stickers with attached tubes on my chest for the computers, etc.

Thirty minutes later my Surgeon arrived with a internist in tow, the doctor drew on my chest with a black marker where the incision would be and the anesthesiologist put in my mouth a tube for oxygen.  A male registered nurse also appeared in attendance, now we have a full house.

My Surgeon, internist, and anesthesiologist are all of Indian descent, my registered nurse is Black...as I started to doze off I heard bantering from the team...The Black nurse joked, "Hey, we have three Indians in pajamas here, that can't possibly be allowed,"  The Surgeon joked, "What? I'm your brother from a different mother!"  That's the last I heard before I fell into a deep sleep.

I awoke about an hour later still in Surgery, but was alone.  I was freezing and asked for a nurse.  She placed this hose that looked like an extension from a vacuum cleaner and placed it underneath my sheet, I immediately felt warm air, and went back to a short snooze.  My throat was parched and the nurse brought me a small bottle of apple juice, which I puked five minutes later.  Appears that the Surgeon cleans out the stomach with air, and sometimes the air gets trapped in the stomach...hence, when I swallowed juice it met a barrier and returned from whence it came, my mouth.

Awoke again with horrible pain in my stomach, felt that I was being stabbed by a knife.  The nurse said that I'm ready to go and my wife will be waiting in the prep-dressing area.  My wife was great!  She helped me to get dressed and gave me soothing comments about going home.  Couldn't see my feeding tube as my chest was full of gauze tape and cotton.

The nurse placed me in a wheel chair and we left for the Emergency Area.  Wife went to pick up the truck.  I had difficulty entering the truck as I was extremely dizzy when I stood up.  The pain of stooping getting up and sitting down had a horrible effect on my stomach.

The hardest part of going home was every little bump caused me to groan in misery and my wife started sobbing uncontrollably...in all my years of marriage she's never seen me suffer in pain before, even in my last ultra-marathon I was smiling at the end.  I was always the healthy one.  My wife suffering so much make me feel horrible and guilty.

Once home, I immediately went to bed. The rest of the day and night I slept fitfully as I couldn't find a comfortable position without causing pain.  I was in bed for eleven hours!  We realized that I wouldn't be able to work on Friday night and Suzie called me in sick.

I did work Saturday night for 12 hours, it was simply a crazy weekend, being fight night (Mosley vs Pacquiao) as well as Motor Cross Championship at Sam Boyd Stadium, and Mother's Day.  The whole weekend, especially Saturday, was very painful as getting up and out of the cab hundreds of times gave me stabs into my stomach.  I brought two bottles of Aloe Vera Juice to work, which helped coat my stomach and prevented nausea...thanks again Allen for the tip on Aloe Vera!

Getting a feeding tube is a precaution, just in case I won't be able to swallow food in the near future.  Today, my mouth is clear of soreness, but it's already getting somewhat difficult to swallow food down my throat.  My plan is to eat softer food as long as I can and later drink liquid foods before I even consider using the feeding tube.