Procedures

Waking up in the ICU
Dialysis
Catheterization
Couldn’t Talk

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Waking up in the ICU

First, when you wake up, you’re kind of dizzy and you have this big tube in your mouth. And you feel funny- you can’t really see anything, because everything’s kind of a blur. But then you hear somebody talking to you and your mouth feels really, really dry, and all you want is to drink something. And then they get the tube out of your mouth, and it kind of hurts, but the nurse does it, so it’s okay. And then you’re just really tired and maybe have some Ginger Ale or some water and then you just go to sleep. And then when you wake up again, you’re not as blurry anymore, but you still are a little, because of all of the anesthesia and stuff. It’s really kind of freaky, because you have all of these IV’s in you, and there are all of these tubes in the walls and everything. Some of the doctors are in the room, and a couple nurses. Your parents can only be there at certain times; they have to leave in the morning and at night because the doctors come in, and they can’t sleep in the room with you. And if the doctors or nurses are doing something, like if they’re taking tubes or IV’s out, the parents have to leave, but they can come back after it’s done. And so it’s kind of scary, because usually your parents can be with you when they’re doing something, but for this they can’t. And then after that you’re still tired, but it’s the same as a regular room, except it’s more open. It’s a little space, so it’s not very private, and you see other people. And there are a lot more monitors and oxygen things around, and usually you don’t really do much- you kind of just lie there. And you feel dizzy and just really tired.

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Dialysis

At first dialysis was all right; it was something new. I knew it was there to help me. But after a while, I got a couple bad treatments, and I got sick. Then it became fairly routine that I would get dialysis and then come home and sleep for the rest of the day. I wasn’t very active; I had less energy. I made sure I kept up on my schoolwork, and I invited friends over, but that was all; I wasn’t going out to parties like normal teenagers.

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Catheterization

I bring a headset with me, so that my mind is taken off of it. When they go in, it stings and hurts a little bit. When they thread the catheter to try and get in there, it hurts. You get used to it, but when you’re first doing it, you get angry and miserable because it’s sore. It once took a couple of tries to get the catheter in; I was so mad, and crying because it hurt so much. It can get tiring, but I bring a CD, so I can listen to the music.

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Couldn’t Talk

I remember they set me up with this little machine; you’d press buttons, and it would say words. I got really mad because the fact that I couldn’t really talk bothered me.

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