Ruth Goes To The Theatre
No, it’s not a title of a book, nor does theatre (old English spelling, Jen) refer to the movies, as we know them. Here in Kenya, that is the term for the operating room at the hospital. As for Ruth, they insist on calling me by my middle name, even though today, my wrist band said Karen (scratched out, ha ha) then Ruth Karen Malone. Last Fri. when I was there, it took a minute before I realized they were calling for me, especially with their accents.
So we left the house around 7 a.m. for a 9 a.m. appt. about an hr. away. Laz wanted to beat the jam, not a current game, but the horrendous piles of cars sitting, usually in a pile, during rush hours. He also thought if we arrived earlier, we’d get in earlier. So much for that premise, as I checked my watch as I crawled onto the operating table and it was 10:30 already.
The cyst removal took about 30 min. but we still managed to wait in lines till after noon. John wondered why paying a bill in Kenya turns into an all-day project. Of course he was a bit annoyed, as he had stayed up all night, trying to break his 280,000 score in Bubble Shooter. Needless to say, my night’s sleep was wrecked also.
As I laid on my stomach on the table, the Dr. used about 6 shots to numb the area in my back. I wish I had counted as they seemed to never stop. The pricks (needles), then the stinging, was not pleasant. Even as he started to cut into my skin, not a pleasant sound when one is awake, I jumped about 3 or 4 times, asking him, are you still numbing with shots? He said, oh, sorry, and used the needles again to numb some more. What I want to know is, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME that things don’t work they way they do on others! (Amsterdarm.)
After he removed the cyst he asked if I wanted to see it. Hesitatingly I said yes. YECH! That thing was quite a bit bigger than my eyeball that was removed last year!
The incision was over 4 cm. so, over 2 inches maybe? I did not look up the metrics yet. I was given a prescription for pain relief which I declined, so I hope I’m not sorry later. As of 3:45 p.m. I haven’t noticed any pain, so, guess what! The anesthetic is finally working!
For Jess/Jerod/Rachel, who took that trip to Kijabe Hospital in Dec., we saw baboons on the road in front of us and alongside us, both on the way out and on the way back. There were babies on some of the backs. I did not feed them or get out of the car, so, Mark, I did not get attacked by any of them!
My blood pressure reading when I arrived was 180/100 (or 182/100, accent!), compared to the 216/108 from just a wk. ago. Apparently my bp pill is working. Their scale must’ve been broken tho, as I was up a kilo since last Fri. (Kentmere eating all weekend?).
So my official diet has begun, for, with the removal of this cyst, I am now down one ounce! (j/k, I didn’t really weigh the sucker.)