Yesterday I was scheduled for an Endoscopy.  Having never had one before, I built it up in my head, much-much bigger than I needed to.  Anytime I have to deal with any sort of anesthesia, I tend to have at least a few tearful moments.  Everything turned out great, but I figured I’d recap everything that happened for those of you who have never had one before.

I arrived at the hospital with the hubs in tow at about 7:30 for check in.  The check in process was fairly painless.  They went through my general information, in case of emergency contact, insurance, etc.  I then had about a 15 minute wait until they called us back to the prep area.

The prep area was a group of 8 hospital beds separate by curtains.  They re-asked me tons of questions, that I had answered numerous times now…guess it’s best to over ask than under ask! They then took my vitals and then had me change into a hospital gown and hospital socks.  I was able to leave on my pants and sports bra since the nurse didn’t think the sports bra would get in the way.  It was then time for my IV where I was hooked to saline and where they were going to later add the anesthesia.  It took what seemed like forever for the technician to find a vein in my hand.  Apparently my veins like to hide.  I’m wonder if that is caused by excess weight and they are just harder to find?  Anyways, he did finally find a vein and holy batman jesus, it hurt.  Usually I’m fine with needles but this one hurt.  It felt like someone was pinching me even after I was all set up, and even after the entire procedure was over.  I’m hoping that technician isn’t the one that I’ll have come surgery day, because that IV has to be in me for a couple of days!

After I went through all of that, it was time to wheel me over to the procedure room.  I was pretty teary as I said “love you, see you in a bit” to my husband.  The nurse said it was perfectly normal to be nervous and that they’d take good care of me.

The first thing I said in the room was “Hi, nice to meet everyone.  Is everyone here a preferred provider for Blue Cross Blue Shield?”  They laughed and said “pretty sure we are.”  The anesthesiologist was incredibly friendly as were the nurses in the room.  The anesthesiologist asked me numerous questions, and told me what to expect.  They rolled me onto my left side and put a plastic thing in my mouth that had a round hole in the middle and that you bite onto (completely painless.)  The anesthesiologist told me that the anesthesia would sting a bit, and as much as I fought to keep my eyes open, next thing I knew I coughed and was wide awake in the procedure room.  It was 8:53 when I closed my eyes and 9:02 when I opened them.  QUICK!

They were done with the procedure and told me that it usually takes people a bit more time to wake up from the anesthesia.  I felt like a champ (except the pinching from the IV) when they rolled me into recovery.  I felt like I had, had a decent nap.  The hubs was brought back to the recovery room, he had snacks with him as per usual.  He tends to wonder when given the chance.  My blood pressure was pretty high, for me, in the recovery room and the nurse told me that was pretty normal.  The doctor came in and went over what he saw with me, which I’ll get to in a minute.  Within 15 minutes or so my blood pressure was back to normal and I was taken via wheel chair out of the hospital where my husband was waiting in the car for me.

The entire procedure was quick and painless, with the exception of the IV.  I was nervous for nothing!  I didn’t even wind up with a scratchy throat.  I spent most of yesterday napping and intermittently working from home.  Youre not allowed to drive the day of the procedure…or sign contracts…or shop online (apparently there’s been more than one incident with someone over shopping on QVC, ha!)

The findings:

• I do have a hiatal hernia, which was expected.  It was pretty pronounced and will be repaired during my VSG surgery.
• I have something called a Schatzki’s Ring, which would explain why I have the feeling of getting food stuck randomly.  For me it tends to only occur if I’m eating way to fast and don’t properly chew my food.  I’m extra glad that I’m not going with the Lap Band because of this, I’d have two potential places for my food to get stuck!
• They did a bunch of biopsies that I will get the results of at a later time.  Since this is the last opportunity for anyone to see the inside of 85% of my stomach, this is the last chance to check for numerous things.

Hope the recap helps anyone else who is nervous about an Endoscopy!  Painless and quick.