Long term gains

Aaargh! My groin! ~ George C. Scott

Tuesday adventures at BCH… or Boulder Surgery Center… whatever.

Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected but less pain than, “Whoa that is a weird way for my body to feel,” sorta gig. I jammed down to Boulder for my pre-op at 10:00. Checked in at the front desk. Paid my deductible to the Front Desk Lady who sounded as if she was from Ireland, Scotland maybe, and sat down very briefly to read Wally Lamb’s latest, The Hour I First Believed. So far quite good. Mr. Lamb is a very talented writer and not shy to take on tough subjects.

Then the super-friendly nurse parade began with a whole series of very nice staff who took all my vitals and asked me a bunch of questions and made sure I was all comfy and whatnot. My doc, Sonja Stilp, came out to say “hi’ and walk me through the procedure and let me know I was up next. Then they took me to the xray room and it was game on. I am certain people exist who don’t get a little nervous at the docs and I definitely am not among that select group. Never really have been – which makes it amusing that I once wanted to do the whole doctor thing. Perhaps that was a career well-avoided. Anyway, I plopped down on a table and I got hooked up to things again (EKG, HRM, BP), got some instructions and talked with the staff about the procedure and how all the stuff worked. Very friendly group of people who seemed to be as interested in my procedure as I. That is a good feeling to have when someone is going to work a needle down into your pubic symphasis.

Now one would think having a hot PA yanking down your pants would be kinda sexy but well… it wasn’t. Not with the threat of stabbings looming in the not too distant future. They got me all situated, instructed me to use my words instead of pointing or attempting to assist and fired up the x-ray machine. Dr. Stilp gave me a shot or two of numbing stuff which truly was the most “painful” part of the whole endeavor. The rest was just more of a “that isn’t right” sort of sensation as she guided what looked like a pretty big needle (on the x-ray, at least) into my bod. At one point she told me I would “feel some pressure” and man, that was not pleasant. Just a really odd feeling that made me inhale deeply. Then another when she injected the medicine.

Then they cleaned me up, took me to recovery and I spent the rest of the day with an ice-pack in my lap. Really not too big of a deal. The awesome treatment I received from the staff made it a lot better.

They really keep things rolling there and had another patient in and out within 10 minutes of my leaving the post-op area. Kinda cool to see efficiency at work.

So I can start running again on Saturday but have to sit on my ass until then. I may do a little work around the house but won’t be getting out for structured exercise until the weekend. Maybe another movie is in my future.



So that is what it is like to get osteitis pubis treated. Now you know and if G.I. Joe is to be believed, that is half the battle. (Though I have always thought that line was malarkey.)