Before and After: Traveling for a Scope (Part 2)

This article is Part 2 of a 2-part series. You can find Part 1 of this article here.

Oh, what an experience that whole thing was. Things didn't go exactly according to plan.

Taking my pramipexole in the morning helped

We decided that 4 AM was going to be too early for us to leave and that we would end up in Vancouver with 2 hours to spare. Since parking is expensive and hard to come by in Vancouver — as it’s a major city — we decided to leave at 6 AM.

The roads were great, and the couple of construction delays we were expecting weren't so bad because we arrived at the perfect time. Taking 1 of my pramipexole in the morning seems to have helped my RLS be not quite so bad despite being in the car for 8 hours.

We had wanted to take a decent rest in a city that was near our final destination, but it was super muggy and hot out, so I was only able to stand 10 minutes before I needed to get back in the car to have AC on me. In the final stretch, probably 2 cities away, I ended up getting a nasty migraine.

A fire code was called at the hospital

We got to the hospital just in time for my appointment — at least, just at the scheduled time, as the specialist ended up running late.

While we were waiting for the specialist, a code red (fire) was called, and my hubby and I exchanged nervous looks. If we had to be evacuated from the hospital, we didn't know how long we could be delayed.

Thankfully, the fire was put out without anyone having to evacuate the hospital, and not long after that, we were able to see the specialist. The appointment went pretty fast, and because he left the lights off for me, my migraine was able to calm down.

No AC where we were staying made things uncomfortable

When we finally got to where we were staying during this trip, we discovered that they didn't have AC. Vancouver is a coastal city, so it gets muggy there in the summer, making things more unbearable.

Thankfully, we had just avoided a heatwave that happened the week before, but it was still 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit) and the window into our unit had been left open, making it very uncomfortable.

Even though we had 3 small fans and a ceiling fan, it wasn't doing much to help keep us cool. We used several wet dishcloths and dish towels laid across our bodies to try to help us avoid heatstroke. My husband maybe slept 2 hours that night, and I think I maybe slept 3.

Telling the anesthesiologist I have RLS

I had to be up at the hospital at 6 AM the next day, and thankfully I was the first to go in for the scope. Everything went well, and I remembered to tell the general anesthesiologist about having RLS. She said it was good to know, and they would give me other medications so as not to make my RLS worse.

My husband and I decided that we were not going to be staying another night, and that we were just going to drive home. We got lucky and the roads were even better on our way home. It helped that it was a Tuesday, so there weren’t really a whole lot of people on the road. Even though it took us 9 hours to get home, we were very grateful to be home where we have AC and the ability to sleep comfortably.