ECT number Five.

            As I sit here in the dining room at the hospital, I sit here and wonder about things in my life. I have been dealing with the collapse of my sanity since February and with only days left before Christmas I am still sitting here in a hospital fighting my depression and self worthlessness. I try and look back at everything I have accomplished so far in my life, my family and the things that make our home complete. Even though there are a lot of positives in my life I can’t help but feel, what ever the purpose, that everything I am going through, no matter how negative it may be, has some type of a reason which I don’t know what it is. What I can honestly tell you is that is that it becomes a daily struggle to deal with feelings and changes to my moods. I just finished breakfast after having my fifth ECT out of six inpatient treatments. Wednesday after the sixth treatment I am suppose to go home and start them on an out patient basis.

            ECT has not been anything that I expected, especially after watching videos on YouTube about the procedure. Over all the whole process is painless and not as bad as portrayed by the video, in fact it is far much less embarrassing and about as routine as pulling a sliver out of a finger. The whole process from the morning prep time to the time I return to my room is approximately three hours at best. After all five treatments the only side effect I experienced was a slight head ache which a Motrin was all it took to take care of that. And since I am already aware that the procedure produces seizures, which is uncontrollable movements of your muscles, I already am aware that the muscles that control the bladder will be affected I ask for an adult pad such as a pair of depends, any accident does not become an issue and there is no embarrassing moments.

PhotobucketAs with any procedure, there is no eating or drinking past midnight. At about 6 AM they come into my room, take vitals and I am given a shot and a tart tasting drink about the size of a flavored creamer you get at any corner store. The shot is given to cause the mouth the dry up and the drink is to cause the stomach to slow production of the acid which could be regurgitated into the esophagus during the seizure. After about an hour they come to pick you up in a gurney to be transported to the Surgery Recovery Room where ECT is administered. After you arrive your vitals are checked and you’re placed on a heart monitor, oxygen sensor, blood pressure monitor and the leads to the machine that delivers the shock are hooked up. After this minor preparation is complete your ready for the Doctor to come over and administer the shock. He arrives at your bedside, along with the nurse and anesthesiologist and start the ECT. As nurse acknowledges that everyone is there for an ECT, the doctor places the electrodes that will deliver the shock, in my case 45 joules, and medication is given to knock you out.

Once you awake and the treatment is over, you are monitored for a while and your vitals are checked on a regular basis. The whole process has taken 10 minutes from the time the nurse checks for the agreement of the procedure till you awaken enough to remember that you are really awake. There are no side effects that I have experienced aside from a mild headache after each treatment, nothing that a Motrin cannot handle. There is much debate out there whether or not ECT really does work and just how it affects the body. There is another patient here who has been on them and received her eleventh treatment today and I have noticed that she is starting to smile and laugh where when I first arrived the only emotion she had expressed was depression and doubt. That gives me a sense off hope in the fact that maybe I will not be so depressed after I get further along in my treatments. I have one left, which will be on Wednesday and scheduled for two more next week.

Well, that has been my day today. The weekend was long and it’s going to feel like forever until Wednesday when I am suppose to be able to go home. I am hoping that when I do my kids will have started to help their mother and there will be less bickering when I get there. It will be a couple more days before Christmas when I get home and hopefully everything will go smoothly for the rest of the week. The bottom line in all this, I feel that the ECT will work just not in the 3 or 4 treatments but more like 10-14. I will just have to wait and see when it’s all over. Until Next Time…  

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey, Let me know if there's anything I can do to help the wife and kids out before you get home. Sometimes an "outsider" can get more work out of kids than their parents. Who wants to listen to the parents?? I have no problem scooting out there for a few days. Just let me know.
T
December 20, 2010 at 12:43 PM
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