Liberation ~ FAIL (Pt. 2)

The "Wizard of Oz" might possibly be the best analogy I've made thus far. With Angela as Dorothy. Jason as the Scarecrow. Abel as the Tin Man. Asa as The Cowardly Lion. And introducing Gooch as Toto. Ya know, Toto shoud've been a pit bull all along. Anyways, I thought I had made it to the Emerald City. Quite possibly, I had even met the Wizard but I'd soon find out my first visit to him would not be the one to get me back to Kansas.

I heard no more words from the doc after his starting the venogram. The silence, I'd thought, must mean he's hard at work. Then he steps out and one of the nurses advises that the doc was going back to get a closer look at the film. "A-ha," I'd thought, "He's prolly back there deciding how many stents he'd need. Or whether or not to use the pink or the purple ones." Time passed and I was advised they were waiting on the docs o.k. to take out the caths. WTF?

No stents? No balloons? Tears of disappointment soon mixed with tears of pain as the caths made their exits. I should have asked for more meds when the venous entry hadn't gone so well. But at the time, my hope and optimism must have masked my pain. No such luck this time. It became clear that whatever they had given me was now gone. The venous line left with about the same amount of pain that it had entered.

The arterial cath however was quite different. Son of a turkey farmer! Wow. That hurt! Finally my eyes closed, TIGHT! I told myself, as Rocky told Clubber Lang, "You ain't bad. You ain't bad. You ain't nothin'!" But guess what? It sure was somethin' - PAINFUL. I managed to ask if I could get anything else for pain. After explaining to me what all I had already, I repeated myself again. Then he asks, "Can I give her anything else?" And although smart enough to realize he wasn't asking me, I answered quite clearly, "Yes! Yes, you can."

I think I heard a chuckle in the background as he ignored me. Stacy was that you? He repeated his question and was given the go ahead before the removal of the artery cath. Thank God, 'cause whether or not my head remained taped down, I was about to come on up off of that table. "Breathe for me, Angela," someone had said. "Don't forget to breath Daniel-son," I had gritted my teeth and thought to myself. Pain meds in, caths out and I was on my way.

A heated blanket joined us on our way back to my room and I briefly went to Sleepytown. Heat can really sock it to me. Ever wanna kill me off? Just turn up the heat. Huh? Maybe I've said too much. During the return trip I reflected on my experience thus far. Maybe he had found something and just hadn't been prepared to tackle it. Maybe he had done something - but I wasn't feeling any different. Hmmmmm! Wonder what he had told Jason. Surely he had talked to Jason. Stay tuned for Part 3 . . .