Friday, May 3, 2024

Butts and Guts

Inspirational song: Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo)

Medical procedures aren't generally described as fun. But, darn it, I really had fun today. I had an upper endoscopy to chase down some chronic tummy pain, and I was laughing the whole time I was awake. The nurses had all taken silly pills. They were joking with each other and including me in the frivolity. I have never been around a hospital environment like this. They were still professional, don't get me wrong. One of them even got my IV in immediately on the first stick. (Miraculous!) They just did their jobs efficiently with smiles and humor. I mentioned to the procedure nurse who was wheeling me back to see the gastroenterologist, and she said well, when you deal with butts and guts all day, you have to find the humor. I told her I was stealing that phrase.

The procedure was fast. In and out in 9 minutes. I had a lovely nap, and wished I could have stayed out longer. They found a couple minor things, like my stomach showing wear and tear from 8 years of twice-daily prescription-strength NSAIDs. And go figure, the woman who had a paralyzed diaphragm ended up with a minor hiatal hernia. The doc didn't visit me after the procedure, but was on to the next patient. The nurse going over the report said that's typically a good sign. If it were bad news, he would have been in there to tell me. They did pull out a sample to check again for celiac, so I guess I'm glad I've had multiple glancing blows from gluten in the last few months to irritate the intestinal lining, if it's gonna.

I spent the rest of the day snoozing. I don't know why my body decided to do a total restart, but now I have to hope I can sleep tonight. I suspect I'll be watching YouTube until the wee hours.

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