So About that Night in the Emergency Department

First of all....how weird (dumb) is it that they no longer say ER...it's now ED. Why? We all know it as the ER. ED sounds too much like the shortened form of Edward.

Anyway...let me set the scene for you.

It's Saturday night, we are home and unpacked from our two day trip to Seattle, the kids are in bed, Kevin makes a special snack/dinner treat and opens a bottle of wine. We'd bought baguette in Seattle to go with the smoked salmon we had at home and sat down to watch a movie. I was just getting ready to compliment him on the delicious food when I felt like there was a razor blade in my throat.

I coughed.

I gagged.

I ate bread.

I drank water.

I jumped up and down.

I prayed.

All to no avail.

So I drove myself to the Emergency Department for what I thought would be a fairly easy and routine removal of a fish bone.

At the ED I waited.

I was triaged.

I was taken to a room and triaged again.

Then I waited.

I had x-rays taken.

I waited.

I had a "cocktail" to numb my throat.

I saw the doctor who said nothing showed up on the x-ray.

He stuck an NG tube down my nose (horribly painful) and saw something.

I waited.

An ENT doctor arrived and stuck the NG tube down my nose again.

I went to the OR.

I was put out with general anesthesia.

FINALLY, THE FISH BONE WAS REMOVED. (5 hours after first arriving at the ED).

At 3am, Kevin and the girls had to pick me up since it wasn't safe for me to drive home.

Needless to say I was wiped out by the time I got home. I ended up resting all day Sunday and even now my muscles are achy (a side effect of general anesthesia). I would much rather have achy muscles from an epic, grueling hike than a trip to the hospital.

But I'm thankful the discomfort is gone and the whole ordeal is over. I'm gonna think twice about eating fish in the future.