my brave roommate

My roomie is brave. As much as I poked fun at her popped blood vessel this past week (which is doing just fine if you were wondering...almost back to 100%), I give her madd props with this whole mole removal thing.

Ouch! dude, they cut her foot open! Well, I knew that was going to happen, I’m not dumb. But watching it is a different story.

Here’s an account of the experience from a moral supporter's perspective:

When we pulled into the parking lot i was surprised to see that as a result of Goose's frequent visits lately, the doctor's office had reserved a spot for her in the first row. This was much appreciated, as it was drizzling a bit outside and i didn't want the precipitation to ruin my freshly straightened hair.

We walked into the office and nurses and receptionists called out warm greetings to Abs like they had known her forever. I felt like I was with Norm, walking into Cheers, only the beverage selection was much different as the only thing they offered was orange juice.

After a very short wait, Goose was called into the nurse's room and I followed. This nurse was young and had auburn, short hair, flipped out in the back. For some reason I can't remember her name, so we're going to call her Nurse Shaniqua.

Nurse Shaniqua had a very outgoing personality. From our first interaction with her it was easy to see she was a very honest person. After taking a quick look at goose's chart, she looked Goose straight in the eyes and said, "Have you mentally prepared yourself for this?" She then proceeded to leave the room, telling Goose she would go turn on the relaxing music and "fish tank," in the operating room.

After our reassuring conversation with Nurse Shaniqua, Goose was soon moved into the O.R. I, for one, was so excited for this "fish tank," that Nurse Shaniqua had eluded to!!! I always love the ones at the dentist office. Boy was I mislead! Are you kidding me! This “fish tank” was a small, plastic lil tikes toy propped up on a shelf across from the mirror that Goose could look into. Lame-O. How in the world was this supposed to soothe either one of us!

Oh well. Moving on to more about Nurse Shaniqua who proved to be our…actually I don’t think Goose was too amused by her…who proved to be MY afternoon entertainment.

Let’s talk about Nurse Shaniqua for a second. She graduated from Bloomington-Kennedy Senior High in 2000. She once drank alcohol out of a watergun during a crizazy trip to Mexico. She thinks the fa la la lattes at Caribou are, “fa la la-crap!”, but likes their mango ice tea (as does Goose) with a shot of raspberry from time to time.

I could go on, but will spare you. The best part about Nurse Shaniqua’s humor is that it kept getting her in trouble with the “elder” nurse and doctor in the room. Goose couldn’t see, but every time she’d make a silly, random, or inappropriate comment, the elder nurse would give her the dirtiest look, and I would just crack up.

Ok, as I’m sure the only person I’m amusing here is myself…I’ll move on.

So the doc came in dressed as if she was going to a meeting or out to a coffee shop for a 3rd date with a guy she liked. Not like a doctor. I expected a white medical robe, short hair, or at least having it pulled back.

She walked in with a pair of dress pants and a blouse that had long, flowy sleeves on it, with a neutral-colored print. Her hair was left down and came to about the middle of her back. This did not look like someone who was about to work with needles and blood. I can’t remember her name either, so we’re gonna call her Dr. My outfit’s too fancy to be doing surgery right now.

Once the procedure began, it was like a scene out of ER, House, or Grey's Anatomy (minus McDreamy and Dr. Burke's shakey hands).

The Novocain needle was much bigger than I expected and Dr. My outfit’s too fancy to be doing surgery right now stuck it in Goose’s foot at lease 3 big times before the numbing really set-in. Once it did, Dr. My outfit’s too fancy to be doing surgery right now continued to insert more Novocain.

Throughout the Novocain process, Nurse Cathy (the third and final member of the medical staff who joined us---previously referred to in this entry as the “elder nurse”) assisted Goose in the breathing process. You could definitely tell that Nurse Cathy has given birth before, as her Lamaze technique was impeccable (as if I would really know).

Once this process was done, Dr. My outfit’s too fancy to be doing surgery right now began the mole removal process. She had this neat little tool that I believe did the cutting. Then she removed the suspicious cells, and then she stitched it up.

Goose bled a lot! My word! But she was so tough, and didn’t even accept Nurse Shaniqua’s continuous offer of orange juice.

Dr. My outfit’s too fancy to be doing surgery right now finished stitching Goose up, patted her on the back, and left the room. Nurse Shaniqua and Nurse Cathy wrapped Goose’s foot up and explained cleaning and bandaging instructions. Then Nurse Shaniqua turned off the cheesy fish toy, and it was done.

This whole process was incredibly intriguing to me. I was glad to be there with Goose, as it seriously was a painful and unpleasant procedure for her to go through. I now stand as a witness of the pain she did and will be experiencing throughout the next few weeks, and will testify to her total bravery during the entire surgical process yesterday. I am very proud!

Feel better soon, Goose!