Pre-Assessment for Gastric Neurostimulator
Tuesday 28th October 2011
Ok now back to the future guys, got to keep strong and live for the living. I am still in a sense of total despair but I can't afford to loose my head now. I have a family to think about and that's all that keeps me going these days. Yesterday was my pre-assessment for my surgery. It brought it home to me just how much I need to get on top of things.
For those of you who are new to the page, I am having a surgical jejunostomy (feeding tube), full thickness biopsies and a gastric neurostimulator. You can view information about the device at: www.medtronic.com/health-consumers/gastroparesis/device/index.htm.
The surgery is scheduled for this Friday (21st oct). My appointment went as expected, there were lots of questions about my general health, body weight, height, blood pressure etc and a blood test. I didn't need an ECG this time, as I had a cardiac echo in June this year. The nurse was lovely and again, genuinely interested in my condition. She couldn't tell me much about the operation because she hadn't come across the neurostimulator before, so my mother and I explained it to her. She told me to expect to be in roughly 7 to 10 days due to the fact that it involves a laparotomy (the type of incision). I also presume that it will be a slow process getting the feed up and running again.
I am getting really nervous and have had lots of moments where I have nearly called it off, but then I look at myself in the mirror and see a shadow of what I used to be. I look around the house and it's filled with medical kit, boxes of feed, tubes and syringes. I live in hope that this is not the way it will always be and that is why I can't change my mind... although I'm sure I'll change my mind a thousand times between now and Friday!
Ok now back to the future guys, got to keep strong and live for the living. I am still in a sense of total despair but I can't afford to loose my head now. I have a family to think about and that's all that keeps me going these days. Yesterday was my pre-assessment for my surgery. It brought it home to me just how much I need to get on top of things.
For those of you who are new to the page, I am having a surgical jejunostomy (feeding tube), full thickness biopsies and a gastric neurostimulator. You can view information about the device at: www.medtronic.com/health-consumers/gastroparesis/device/index.htm.
The surgery is scheduled for this Friday (21st oct). My appointment went as expected, there were lots of questions about my general health, body weight, height, blood pressure etc and a blood test. I didn't need an ECG this time, as I had a cardiac echo in June this year. The nurse was lovely and again, genuinely interested in my condition. She couldn't tell me much about the operation because she hadn't come across the neurostimulator before, so my mother and I explained it to her. She told me to expect to be in roughly 7 to 10 days due to the fact that it involves a laparotomy (the type of incision). I also presume that it will be a slow process getting the feed up and running again.
I am getting really nervous and have had lots of moments where I have nearly called it off, but then I look at myself in the mirror and see a shadow of what I used to be. I look around the house and it's filled with medical kit, boxes of feed, tubes and syringes. I live in hope that this is not the way it will always be and that is why I can't change my mind... although I'm sure I'll change my mind a thousand times between now and Friday!
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