Today was the day – Oma’s
“Big Chop!”
I was rousting mother at 4am – while Paul was already working… from home, today
(thank the Lord for telecommuting).
There wasn’t much to do to get ready, as mom couldn’t eat or drink anything, and we’d prepared all we needed to bring along the night before.
Megan, Mother and I left before 5 and were checking in by 5:20
(thank the Lord for free valet parking).
Once they took mom off to get her ready, Megan and I sat and waited… and waited… a surprisingly long time, it seemed, until finally they let us come see her for a few minutes shortly after 7am, and shooed us out by 7:20.
Mom was in very good spirits when we left her, and I can’t express how much I appreciate all the prayers that have been lifted up on her behalf. I know her upbeat attitude and peace are a direct result of the intercession of the saints! God bless you all for your willingness to walk beside her through this valley, and to be conduits of God’s grace.
Once we’d given our hugs and kisses and said goodbye,
Meg and I wandered down to the lovely (and expensive) cafe near the lobby.
We spent some time there, enjoying the morning sunshine streaming through the east-facing window, and Megan worked on her college algebra while I read some in my Google Reader and took pretty pictures. 🙂
We got tired of the chairs there, and wandered across the hall to the (very expensive) gift shop. We ogled the pricey purses, narrowly escaped being kicked out for drooling all over the scarves, and sat down outside in the hallway to wait a bit more, only to be surprised by the arrival of Paul, with Geneva and Jacob in tow.
His boss told him to take the day off.
Good boss.
Remind me to send her a thankyou note.
Just as we were heading down to the cafeteria, I got the call from our surgeon saying that all was well, the surgery had gone perfectly, and mom was in recovery and we could see her in a couple of hours.
We celebrated by splitting two breakfast quesadillas and some soda pop.
There was silliness.
And a whole lot of bounciness from The Boy.
Really, a lot. He was way out of his normal routine, and was amped to the max.
Meg got some assistance from Paul on her math, which always makes her beam with happiness.
(LOL.)
Maybe it was just the camera that made her beam.
From there, we went back up to the surgery waiting area, and waited.
And Waited.
AND WAITED.
The kids were silly.
Here the girls are sharing ear buds and listening to silly music.
And we waited.
They had told us she would be about 2 hours in recovery, and then we’d be able to see her once she was in a room. However, the getting into a room bit was the tricky part.
Apparently there were a lot of folks taking up the beds today.
By noon, we finally got to see her for just a few minutes,
and I was really pleased to see her looking alert and in pretty good spirits already at that point.
I was bone weary, my eyelids felt like lead, and the kids were fidgety as all get out, so I took them home, and Paul stayed a bit longer till she was sent to her room,
before saying goodbye and letting her get some more rest.
After a much needed nap, I went back to the hospital just for a quick visit with Laurent (who spent the day at college and had thus missed all the fun) and we brought mom her phone and kindle and eyeglasses, and stayed just long enough to see that she was doing well, listening to classical radio through her bedside TV, and then we left when the new batch of morphine kicked in.
At the close of this much anticipated day, I am deeply thankful for the faithful support and intercession of so many dear ones, for the Holy Spirit’s comfort, and for the skillful care of our medical professionals.
Thanks be to God.
