Edited to add more details on what happened.
First was the transportation issues. Apparently the company I contacted yesterday.... 'maybe it wasn't the same company'? It was getting close to noon and I still hadn't been contacted by the Sol people so I called the number and connected with dispatch. Apparently he had no record of me calling, making a reservation or anything. I told him I called this number yesterday and a female that answered my call confirmed that I was in the schedule. He had no record of it.
So Jon and I scrambled looking through listings for taxis, uber and lyft, senior transportation... took a good half hour with me on negative calories and no caffeine and we finally settled on lyft. Reasonable price and it got here within five minutes. The gentleman that was driving was amiable, a local mobile home seller and had a sweet prius prime car. So we'll be requesting him in the future. Return trip was a female Hispanic driver that didn't speak English. Luckily Jon spoke to her, thanked her for the ride and all that.
Now, as for how my afternoon went. Typical check in, form to fill out, wait to be called and all that. The staff for Sharp are just amazing, I have not had any issues with their nursing or doctors. The only thing that was even slightly annoying was having to sit in the 'pre-op' cubicle whatever for over an hour but the chair wasn't too uncomfortable and I had one of the cotton blankets so considering I needed a nap after waking up at 5, time well spent.
None of the nurses knew just what part of my hip was going to be sampled and it isn't the hip joint, rather the saddle shaped bones of your actual hip. Turns out, least favorable spot, the back side. I had an IV port in the back of my hand this time (small favors thankfully) nurse who did that was an amiable young guy and he told he was going to use a pad to clean and numb the area before he injected lidocaine before putting the actual IV in. that was new to me and told him so. He was shocked but then I had to tell him the last time I had a long term IV in was over fifteen years ago. All the nurses that I told about the different experiences recently with the ER blood draw using a 'turkey baster' to the painless and simple one for the PET scan. They all agreed ER blood draws were the worse.
The lidocaine local hurt of course and both nurses that were at my head stroked my arms to try and comfort me which was nice. I had clenched my right hand one the nurse on that side put her hand in mine to squeeze. I have never felt so attended and cared about in a medical situation they are all getting high marks from me. Whatever they use for just 'relaxing' you for procedures like this... I want some The nickname is 'twilight' last I heard and they gave me a little while they did the initial ct scan and then after the doctor looked at things and they were ready to proceed gave me another half dose. If it weren't for having something pushed and prodded and loud noises I would have fallen asleep even if I was on my stomach. Made the nurses giggle when they asked how I was doing and I groggily (a bit exaggerated) said, 'I'm fiiiine' and grinned a bit. I really felt like I couldn't move but they wanted me to roll over onto the gurney and I suppose I did better than they expected. I recall that the nurse said the doctor's name was Smith, he never introduced himself and I was face down so couldn't even look up well enough to see him.
After they wheeled me to the recovery bay (not really a room, you know how they're just a curtained off area) Jon was escorted back to where I was asked if we wanted a snack, I really only wanted some cold water, he asked for coffee (not a fan, it was hospital coffee after all) and then the nurse said they had jello I asked what color and she had red and orange. I said quickly, 'orange!'. If Hint water was in jello form, that would be the flavor. Nurse gave us a few minutes then returned, checked my vitals, was hooked up to automatic BP and oxymeter on my opposite hand. I kind of had my eyes closed and was still relaxing so she was directing most of the instructions to him. We chatted with the nurse about getting food afterward and Jon wanted Greek Chicken gyros and one of the male nurses did a double take and apparently approved.
Fast forward to getting ride home, already went into that so we did end up getting gyros against doctors orders not to drive. I felt capable and aware enough to do it safely. So stomachs are full, butt area is uncomfortable but manageable and I don't foresee any problems sleeping tonight. All in all, it was annoying for transportation but other than that, what you would expect from a minimally invasive procedure.
Now we wait for results.
"I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some."
- Herbert Rappaport