After several months of anticipation, the day finally arrived on Monday for my surgery. I was all set for a 9am check in and 11am surgery time when they called on Saturday and told me there’d been a cancellation, and I would be checking in at 5:30am for a 7:30 surgery time! A bit of a switcheroo, but we took it in stride.
Everything went hunky dory checking in and, as usual after two failed attempts to stick the IV line, they called “SWAT” to the rescue. Why they always have to “try” first when I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they will need the ultrasound to stick it, is a mystery to me.
Anyway, although they said it is often a same day surgery, they had a challenging time with mine and decided to keep me overnight. Unfortunately I was stuck down in recovery until about 6pm waiting for a bed. My lovely and gracious recovery nurse confirmed my suspicions that the problem is not overcrowding of the hospital, but a lack of staff. This continues to be a problem throughout the valley and I pray more incentives will be offered to bring more healthcare workers to our area.
I had an uneventful night and Tuesday, after a four-lap walk around the “pod” where my room was stationed, I was given the ok to go home.
Since then I have mostly been sleeping, with brief intervals sitting at the dining room table or my desk. I’m gradually stretching those out longer, but completely willing to nap as often as necessary at this stage. The kids are more than happy to veg in front of the TV, although Ruben gets pretty bored. He’s papering our walls with watercolor drawings!
Yesterday, however, things got a lot more interesting around here when our two goddaughters, Malinda and Lisa, came over with their new babies – and one on the way! They also brought Lisa’s older boy Chris (8) and her nephew Nate (11), so there was plenty of noise and activity. They came mid morning and stayed until around 7pm, Lisa did some work for us, and we all got plenty of baby snuggles and (in my case) some sweet pics. I wish I could have held them, but that’s a no-no for a while here. Anyway, it was a nice diversion and definitely exciting for Ruben to have some playmates for the day.
My pics – wished I could have a few more of Malinda, but that will wait for next time.
