robbie3982
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2006
- Messages
- 3,960
So yesterday I finally had the TEE (transesophageal echo, see my blue lips threads for more info on why I was having it) done and everything came back 100% normal (thank god!). While everyone there was really nice, I am not happy with the hospital at all.
First, they asked the routine question "is there any chance you could be pregnant?" I told them no, even though I''m not on BC, I chart. I know when we had sex and I know when I ovulated and it''s not possible. I also told them that I only ovulated 2 days ago, so even if by some miracle I had become pregnant this cycle, no pregnancy test would be able to pick it up this early since an embryo wouldn''t have implanted yet and therefore wouldn''t be producing HCG. They explained that they''re required by law to do a pregnancy test because the anesthesia they had to give me would cause birth defects, blah blah blah. Ok, fine, better safe than sorry. So they make me pee in a cup and about a half hour later they take me down to the room where the TEE will be done.
The woman in charge of the anesthesia (I guess that makes her the anesthesiologist?) can see that I''m very nervous and she assures me that once she gives me the medicine and the throat spray I won''t have any idea what''s going on, I won''t feel anything and I won''t even remember any of this. She''s about to inject the medicine into my IV when I realize that no one has mentioned getting the results of the pregnancy test so I speak up. I know logically that there''s no chance that I''m pregnant, but they did the test, so better safe than sorry, right? They have no idea that a pregnancy test has even been done and were never told to wait for any results. Um, if it was so important to confirm that I''m not pregnant, shouldn''t they have checked on that?! Their excuse was that pregnancy usually isn''t an issue with patients having this test done since they''re generally much older and menopausal. They call and the lab says the results are negative. What if they''d been positive though and I hadn''t asked before they gave me the injection???
At this point I''m definitely getting more nervous. They sprayed my throat with the numbing spray and injected the medicine and about a minute later started the test. I was completely awake and aware of what was going on and the only thing the spray did was keep me from gagging as they were putting the edoscope down. I definitely felt the endoscope and it hurt to the point where I was crying. It was quite obvious that I was completely awake, terrified and in pain and that whatever they gave me was not working. The anesthesiologist was right there the whole time and I really feel like she should''ve given me more/something else when she saw that whatever she''d given me wasn''t working. DH said the whole thing took only about 15 min (he was in the waiting room), but to me that 15 min was quite possibly the worst 15 minutes of my life. I made it known that I have an anxiety disorder and I was VERY anxious about the entire thing despite having already taken an ativan (which they told me was ok). I''ve had twilight anesthesia before. That''s what I had when I had my nose put back into place after I broke it and it was crooked. I was compeltely out the whole time and felt nothing, so I know that it''s not like I just have a resistance to this type of anesthesia or something.
I will definitely not be going back to this hospital. The people were very nice, but I would have much rather had mean people who remembered to get the results of the pregnancy test and had actually gotten the anesthesia dosage to the point where it did what it was supposed to.
First, they asked the routine question "is there any chance you could be pregnant?" I told them no, even though I''m not on BC, I chart. I know when we had sex and I know when I ovulated and it''s not possible. I also told them that I only ovulated 2 days ago, so even if by some miracle I had become pregnant this cycle, no pregnancy test would be able to pick it up this early since an embryo wouldn''t have implanted yet and therefore wouldn''t be producing HCG. They explained that they''re required by law to do a pregnancy test because the anesthesia they had to give me would cause birth defects, blah blah blah. Ok, fine, better safe than sorry. So they make me pee in a cup and about a half hour later they take me down to the room where the TEE will be done.
The woman in charge of the anesthesia (I guess that makes her the anesthesiologist?) can see that I''m very nervous and she assures me that once she gives me the medicine and the throat spray I won''t have any idea what''s going on, I won''t feel anything and I won''t even remember any of this. She''s about to inject the medicine into my IV when I realize that no one has mentioned getting the results of the pregnancy test so I speak up. I know logically that there''s no chance that I''m pregnant, but they did the test, so better safe than sorry, right? They have no idea that a pregnancy test has even been done and were never told to wait for any results. Um, if it was so important to confirm that I''m not pregnant, shouldn''t they have checked on that?! Their excuse was that pregnancy usually isn''t an issue with patients having this test done since they''re generally much older and menopausal. They call and the lab says the results are negative. What if they''d been positive though and I hadn''t asked before they gave me the injection???
At this point I''m definitely getting more nervous. They sprayed my throat with the numbing spray and injected the medicine and about a minute later started the test. I was completely awake and aware of what was going on and the only thing the spray did was keep me from gagging as they were putting the edoscope down. I definitely felt the endoscope and it hurt to the point where I was crying. It was quite obvious that I was completely awake, terrified and in pain and that whatever they gave me was not working. The anesthesiologist was right there the whole time and I really feel like she should''ve given me more/something else when she saw that whatever she''d given me wasn''t working. DH said the whole thing took only about 15 min (he was in the waiting room), but to me that 15 min was quite possibly the worst 15 minutes of my life. I made it known that I have an anxiety disorder and I was VERY anxious about the entire thing despite having already taken an ativan (which they told me was ok). I''ve had twilight anesthesia before. That''s what I had when I had my nose put back into place after I broke it and it was crooked. I was compeltely out the whole time and felt nothing, so I know that it''s not like I just have a resistance to this type of anesthesia or something.
I will definitely not be going back to this hospital. The people were very nice, but I would have much rather had mean people who remembered to get the results of the pregnancy test and had actually gotten the anesthesia dosage to the point where it did what it was supposed to.