Drama

(Dad - you might want to have someone else read this post and give you the highlights... it'll be WAY more medical stuff than you want to read.)

One would think that scheduling an outpatient procedure would be a fairly simple thing, right? Oh... not so my friends.

Our story begins with me going over to meet with the nurse at our doctor's office to get the instructions for the test and do some blood work... which took all of 10 minutes - even with the minor problem there.

When doing the HSG test - you have to take antibiotics just to prevent infection as they are doing something that is unnatural - and could cause your body to have a reaction if bacteria gets somewhere that it doesn't belong. So, typically they'd give their patient a prescription and off they'd go... yeah - well - we all know that I can't take pills because after the weight loss surgery -I don't absorb them... THEY should know this by now... but we have to be our best patient advocates for ourselves.

So she called down to the pharmacy in their building and worked out what to give me...

We did the blood work - which they're doing a fatigue panel and a blood pregnancy test.

15 minutes and out the door... completely forgetting that I needed to go downstairs to get the antibiotic... so off I go in the truck. While driving - I figure that I can handle scheduling the other test... no sweat right? Multi-tasking is a girls best friend!

This is where things get dicey.

I call the outpatient imaging center and all hell breaks loose. For starters - they freak out and don't know how to handle themselves that I've been on the pill continuously since April. I had to get rowdy and talk to a supervisor to bypass the first dummy on the phone.

Then, she asks if I'm allergic to iodine - which I happen to be... I'm allergic to IV iodine - not topical... but the radiologist wants me treated for that. So she starts talking about calling in a prescription for that medication - at which time I remember that I was supposed to pick up the antibiotic downstairs before I left Dr. Mac's office... BIG U TURN... back to get the medicine... still dealing with this stupid lady.

We get the iodine situation squared away - and she starts talking to me about the blood pregnancy test. They require one to be done within 24 hours of the test - which is just crazy. I had just had the test drawn and was NOT about to have them do it again on Thursday... so again we go round and round about that.

It is at that time she asks me if I've had intercourse within the last 10 days... I swear if I had been there - I would have choked her - or at least killed her with the look on my face. Apparently they don't want to do it if you have been active within that time frame...

I think she finally figured out that my patience was gone - and I said "Look, I had the pregnancy test drawn today... I'm on the pill... and if I'm going to abstain for the remainder of the week... what difference does it all make?!"

GEEZ!

So all of that - and I'm scheduled for 1:00 on Friday. I start taking the antibiotic on Thursday... then at midnight Thursday night - I start with steroids... I take those at midnight, and again at 6:00 Thursday morning... and 1 hour before the test - I take my last steroid, Benadryl, and Tylenol. From there I continue taking the antibiotic for three days after the test...

WHEW... I'll be ready for a big ice cream sundae by Friday afternoon!