As I've written before, I'm not one for the sight of blood. I've known this and spent my life accepting this weakness. After the procedure was through, I was instructed to keep my head back on my pillow and my right leg straight on the bed. This would avoid any added pressure to my stomach region while the shields were still in my leg. At the time, I obeyed but didn't know that I even had anything still in my leg. These shields caused my foot and leg to gradually become numb like they were falling asleep. After 90 minutes or so, the nurse asked my family to leave so she could remove them. Maureen, the nurse, advised me that it would hurt a bit so to take a deep breath and hang in there. I did and she pulled out what looked like a fat straw-like tube from my thigh. Wow! That hurt.
The best way I can describe the feeling is like when I've slept with my arm over my head and the blood drained out leaving it heavy and immoveable. (This used to happen almost every night when I was pregnant.) Eventually, I would wake up and use my other arm to move it down below my heart. As blood began to properly relocate, it would feel tingly, in an almost painful way. (Not really a pleasant habit to repeat every night. I even consciously tried holding my hands in my sleep to avoid this, but alas, it never quite cured me.)
Back to our story, I think my mistake was in seeing the actual tube. Had I not seen it, I might not have gotten dizzy. However, I was also experiencing that tingly, pain-like feeling in my whole leg. It was a lot more discomfort than my arm had ever been, so perhaps that was the reason for "escaping". I remember saying, "I'm feeling dizzy" to Maureen and the next thing I knew was she was calling my name trying to wake me up. I had no idea where I was or who she was. It was almost as freaky as the original episode at home, only when I realized my location, I had a nurse within ear shot to help me.
Maureen looked both alarmed and relieved. She immediately called the other nurse to start my IV with something clear. (I think just fluids.) She said I wasn't out for long, but I sensed she felt as nervous about it as I did. This whole time, she was firmly pressing on my thigh wound, to keep it from bleeding. She was not able to leave my side until she could remove the remaining shield and get the bandage on. Thankfully, she wasn't in a hurry.
The second tube came out MUCH easier. I took a big breath again, but it was neither as painful on my thigh nor down my leg, likely because the blood was flowing more normally by then anyway. I DID NOT LOOK to see if that shield was as large as the first one. Been there. Done that. Eyelids are meant to be shut sometimes. :)
Maureen was quickly able to stop pressing on the wound and covered it with a 1/4" thick gauze square and a huge clear patch of bandage tape (prob'ly 5" square). I wore that for almost 2 days and when I removed it on Sunday morning, the blood had not even seeped through the first layer of gauze. She really had gotten the bleeding stopped. Amazing! Also remarkable was the wound was fully closed for me to take a shower.
There was absolutely no burning or stinging, just a 3x5" bruise. After the shower, I placed a small bandaid this size on the "hole", mostly because it seemed wrong to go from 5x5" tape to nothing. The next day when I removed it, the bruise area was darker in the exact shape of that little bandaid. Apparently my skin was so sensitive to bruising, that just removing the bandaid had made it worse. I wore no covering on it after that. It's just amazing that 2 tubes were stuck IN my leg through a HOLE a little smaller than this penny and in 48 hours it is totally healed closed. Wow!Until this spring, I did not realize that passing out was so serious, nor so rare. Of course, I didn't think it should be frequent or anything, but I still have questions on the rarity. I've heard many childbirth stories of husbands and wives having trouble after experiencing various levels of pain or gore, and the dramatic results that "smelling salts" can have in helping either recover. I have not done research on how it happens or the resulting consequences, so I can't offer any new information in that area. All said, it does alarm me some that I had that episode in the hospital. For one, it is the first memory I have of passing out when I'm already laying down (my one tried and true method for avoiding it). Secondly, it is a bit alarming to do something uncontrollable that makes a nurse nervous. And lastly, it forces me to resolve that the hole in my heart wasn't the only thing responsible for that weakness. Thus meaning that I still need to be careful and use caution in gory situations. That last part actually makes me glad it happened THERE, so that I would know that I am still not invincible.
As a good obedient patient, I did my bedrest till 8:00pm that evening. The only uncomfortable memory I have is the bedpan that I HAD to use due to the added IV fluids. This happened to occur at "shift change" time for the nurses, so my call button was left blinking for quite a while. I should have just pulled a heart monitor sticky tab or two off my chest and I would have gotten quicker attention. However, I've tried to be an honorable patient for both my husband and my nurses, and I think God thanked me by sending a very kind and gracious night nurse for my final night's stay.
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