One of the most annoying post-surgical necessities is the need for blood thinners to prevent blood clots. Since I came straight home rather than heading from the hospital to a rehab facility, I had to administer a daily dose of Lovenox subcutaneously into my abdomen.
Before I left the hospital, I was required to view an instructional video. Choose the site, clean with alcohol, remove the cap from the syringe, insert the needle into the site, depress the plunger, count to three, remove the needle, activate the protective sleeve over the needle, and dispose of the syringe in a sharps container.
For me, this was pretty academic. I waited for about an hour for the nurse to come back so that I could demonstrate that I was capable of administering my own shot. Jim sat patiently on the bed, anxious to load me in the car and head home.
When she finally returned, I opened the syringe and alcohol wipe packages, cleaned the site, removed the cap, gave myself the shot, and properly disposed of the equipment. She looked at me like I had two heads. “That was amazing,” she said. “I just spent the better part of the last hour explaining and re-explaining to the woman in the next room how to do that.”
It never ceases to amaze me how some people make something so simple into something so complex and onerous.
Regardless of the simplicity, I have to say that my abdomen, after 14 consecutive days of Lovenox shots, looks as though I have tattooed myself with a landscape of forsythia bushes and swirls of yellowish clouds. It should be interesting to watch as the colors of the landscape change over the next week or two.
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