So, um, did I mention that I was having a hernia repaired this morning? No? Well, I did, and hoo boy am I feeling it now, Vicodin notwithstanding. I am also enjoying the sort of fakey-tan orange shade of my stomach, thanks to all that sterilizing stuff they rub all over you before cutting.
The official name of my affliction is "incarcerated umbilical hernia," which is Doctor for "a hernia right underneath the spot where your belly button pops out during pregnancy." This is my second hernia repair, and I'm beginning to sense a pattern of medical procedures in my life (two pregnancies, two miscarriages, two hernias... Hope this doesn't mean a second knee surgery is coming! Har har! Just kidding! But also knocking violently on wood.)
Here's my question: Does anybody else HATE having IV's put in? Like, hate it even worse than the idea of being put under and having someone cut around in your abdomen? I am SUCH a baby about it. To be fair, every nurse has always told me I have small veins, so it is consistently difficult to get the Giant Surgical Needle into my hand. But still...
I've had approximately ten procedures requiring IV's in my lifetime (Jim and I counted up just for funsies while waiting this morning.) So you'd think it wouldn't cause me to cringe in terror anymore. And yet... This morning was particularly noteworthy, as my tiny vein sent blood spurting all over the crisp white hospital sheets before the needle was finally in place. Every time I looked over at the stains, I felt myself growing woozy and faint, somewhat in the manner of a delicate Southern belle wearing a tightly laced corset. And looking at her own blood stains.
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19 comments:
Oh boy, that does not sound fun. I know my father-in-law had that same thing done a few years ago.
I hate IVs too. I'm pretty tolerant of pain most times, so I can just look away and bear it. Just think, it can't be as bad as childbirth. It can't, right?
IVs suck! I was on the table for c-section number two and the only pain I felt was from the stupid IV that they had trouble getting in because I was dehydrated because I was not allowed to eat or drink for 12 hours before the surgery. Brillant.
Hope you are back on your feet soon!
Ah yes, I have horrible veins. When I was in the hospital on bed rest for a month, they insisted on having an IV present at all times in case they needed to do emergency surgery or rapidly give me blood (or both!). Over the course of four weeks I had 7 IV sites, and 18 "sticks" from attempts to place the 7 IVs.
When I had to go to the ER a week after getting home because of a kidney infection I BEGGED them not to give me an IV. I preferred the massive dose of antibiotics in injection form, and they gave it to me that way - thank goodness.
This all happened in February/March and I still feel exceedingly anxious thinking about the IV part of it now.
oh man! hope you're feeling better soon!
When I went in the hospital to have J, it took them 14 tries and 4 different nurses to get my IV in. I told them this was the worst part of my day, even worse than transition and the part where the baby comes out of THERE. ;) I hate it, am squeamish, my husband won't even let me hold his hand because I might break it.
Oh man, you can't catch a break these days!
I think I've only had an IV once. I don't remember it being an issue, so it couldn't have been that bad!
I hate it SO MUCH, and I have very good veins---so that the nurse always says, "Oh! Good veins!" But I still hate it. It makes my muscles feel all weak to think about it.
IV's are awful. I've only had them twice-once with each birth-and, hands, down, the IV was the worst part of the entire ordeal, and I'm counting contractions, episiotomy AND the tubal ligation that I had done after the Cub was born.
Blech.
I hate IVs too. I have deep veins so nurses tend to struggle to get needles in me in general, but the IVs are the worst because they BURN. When I had surgery earlier this summer, it took the anesthesiologist three tries to get the IV in, and it burned each time. And she wound up putting it on the side of my wrist, so every time I moved my hand I stabbed the needle in deeper, quite painfully. Ugh.
ugh! I have good veins and HATE getting IV's with a passion. yuk, yuk, yuk!
I hope that vicodin is keeping you comfortable.
yummy, quite the mental picture there.
Aw,sorry to hear you had to go through another surgery! Here's some quick healing vibes headed your way! ((hugs))
Oh, you poor girl!!! You can't catch a break these past few months!
Pretty much nothing bothers me when it's being done to *me*. Seeing it done to people I personally know can be another thing entirely. Watching it on TV is totally fine.
Worst part of my emergency c-section was the IV. Getting an IV in an itty-bitty baby is the freakin' devil too. I wish they'd just let me leave while they do it. Ught!
Oh poor you! I am convinced that they always give me the IV trainee who's never done it before so she can learn by POKING AROUND. OY.
On a selfish front.... I need a hernia repair too at some point (mine is just above my navel. They told me to wait until after my "last baby"). What's the scar like? Did they just go in through your navel? Did they put in that metal mesh stuff???
Happy recuperation!
I think I would be basically OK with IVs, if they didn't KEEP THEM IN YOUR ARM. I mean, I don't mind the pain of insertion too much (I have lovely veins the nurses all swoon over--and I just usually look away and try to distract myself), so if it's only for an hour or two to put in some drugs and then TAKE IT OUT, I'm all good. But when I gave birth to Mary, they kept the IV in my arm the whole hospital stay "just in case," which made me feel kinda nervous (it was a healthy birth, and I'm fine, and you still think SOMETHING might go wrong?), and I kept banging it while holding the baby or nursing or WHATEVER, which then was very uncomfortable and a bit nerve-wracking.
The next two births I denied drugs. And I didn't miss them OR the IV.
OH HONEY. I'm sorry! That sounds awful. I hope you're feeling better soon.
Clueless but hopeful: the last hernia I had I got the mesh put in, but this one just got sutured shut. They actually advised ME to get it fixed BEFORE I had another baby because it would just get bigger and more uncomfortable during pregnancy. She did say that there was about a ten percent chance it would come back after another pregnancy, but that was a risk I was willing to take. It was getting pretty uncomfortable.
omg i *hate* having ivs put in. it freaks me out to see it there.
I feel that it's wholy inappropriate for me to be laughing so hard, but there was so many clever quips!
Anyway, IV's...yes, HATE them! But, I prefer them in my hand to the inside of the elbow because it's gross to bend your arm and HELLO! IV in the way!
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