Heart must keep beating Long, long day. I started waking up at 03:30 and didn't get back to sleep after that, of course We got to the hospital at 07:00 and went downstairs so that my coworker Duane could put in an IV for me. Came back upstairs and registered, then waited for them to take us into the same room that I was in last week before my cath. Got a bottle hooked up to my IV and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. They finally came and got me about 11:30 or so, wheeled me downstairs and left me in the hallway by the door to the EP lab (ElectroPhysiology lab) where they put in the pacemakers. Shortly after, Karen had to give me a kiss and I was wheeled into the room. The *very* cold room. The tech asked me how long we'd been waiting upstairs, and I told her since 07:00. She had told someone to call us yesterday and tell us to not come in until about 10:30, but whoever she told didn't bother, I guess. Anyway, everyone in the room was wearing a mask, of course, but I didn't have one, and I felt vaguely disoriented. I've spent a lot of time in ORs, and I always wore a mask, so I just felt like I oughtta have one on too. So there were two three people buzzing around industriously and I was chatting away with them and the nurse Ryan said "Goodnight, Irene!" and that's pretty much all I remember, except for some rather excruciating pain when the doc was making the pocket. Then I was suddenly back on the cart, rolling toward my room. Karen wasn't in the waiting area, so we went on up without her. The pain didn't really start for a coupla hours, and it's not really all that bad. although I did ask for (and receive two hours later) some oral pain-killer, which really hasn't made much difference. I'll get another on in about a half-hour, along with my regular nightly pill dosage. Then I'm going to sleep. I've already sent Karen home, she was pretty much worn out by the day. And I've about had it too. And it's really hard writing on this laptop on a night-stand, it sits up too high and I need to get my left arm up higher than it wants to be. The nurse just came by and let me know what was going to happen to me tomorrow morning... they're going to test the defibrillator/pacer again, make sure that it's working. He told me that when I was out when they were putting it in yesterday that they checked it about ten times, and that they'll do it another ten times in the morning. I asked him what it would be like if I was awake and he told me that I didn't want to know. I truly believe that. They gave me a sling to wear so that I won't use my left arm too much, but it will let my arm go up over my head, and I don't want to inadvertently do that while I'm sleeping, so I had the nurse help me tie it down around my waist with oxygen tubing.
Else it's pretty useless
As is everything.