Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Wednesday lunchtime update





I stayed up late doing work and then blogging Tuesday night, and so got up a little late this morning. Both Mother and I had worked almost all day Monday, when we had planned to be preparing, and so Mom and I left a lot of preparations to be done Tuesday evening, including changing her bed, her packing clothes and toiletries and books for the hospital and for rehab, getting money and gassing up the car, trying to install a bar for her to hold onto in shower (it didn't stay), straightening up her house a little more, and her going through a complex bathing regimen. Mom wanted us to leave for her 8:45 a.m. appointment at 8 a.m. - we didn't get out the door until 8:35 a.m. (couldn't find my shoes). It turned out that we really did need as much time as time as she thought we did, not so much with the morning traffic, but navigating through the huge and very crowded parking garage and then her walking slowly through the sprawling hospital complex as we tried to go through the atrium, down the elevator, across the ground floor, up the elevator, and then find the Operating room admitting area. Although we were 20 minutes late, they didn't scold us, but timing was a little tight as they quicky sent us to a temporary room of her own with a bed, a bathroom, a clock, and a TV. Mom got a little help from me and no help from the staff doing a final bathing/cleansing as we try to get rid of even more bacteria that might opportunisticlaly use the surgery to infect Mom's insides. Then the nurse, a man about 50, came in to check on Mom. He put a sock on her right leg, but left her left leg, which is being operated on, for later. With all of the hurry, Mom's blood pressure was a little bit elevated for her. They check regularly and have an ID bracelet with info on her to make sure they kow who she is and they perform the correct surgery (although she needs knee replacement in both legs). I have tried to subtlely remind some staff that Mom has a history of blood clots and a reaction to blood thinner. Then, after a very short wait, another nurse was there to close up Mom's bed/stretcher and then start to wheel her down there. I got a couple of pictures and got to tell her that I love her. She said she was getting a little nervous and starting to shake. It sounded like she was more nervous about the expected pain and painful recovery from the surgery, then about possible internal hemorrhaging complications from the blood thinner.

Then I headed off to a crowded Operating Room waiting room where a fancy TV/board listed all of the doctors, secret ID numbers of their patients, and status information. For almost an hour Mom's status was yellow, meaning that she was being prepared for surgery. About half an hour ago a volunteer came to tell me that the nurse called to say that the eoctor had gone into surgery with her and then I saw that the color code (which reminds me of the Homeland Security codes) had gone to green , meaning that she was in surgery.

In the interim I got out a draft paper, editied it, started typing on my laptop, and fought to get the WiFi in the hospital connected. Then I started talking electoral politics and chit-chatting in general with a Mexican American FSU physics professor, Jorge, and his friend Gigi, a Mississippi native whose lawyer husband had had a stroke and was undergoing carotid artery surgery. Suddenly, Gigi's nephew, an IT specialist now from South Carolina, arrived. Todd eventually helped me figure out the WiFi (which talking with the hospital IT people for 10 minutes had not worked). So I've been able to check my e-mail from work and do some work (ugh) and now blog (and show Jorge and Gigi some of the pictures within the electoral politics blog entries). It's still green, and so Mom is supposed to still be in her 1 1/4-hour surgery. But the color coding may get behind and the doctor may suddenly appear asking to talk with me about how the surgery went. A while back a doctor came to talk with Jorge, Gigi, and Todd and said Gigi's husband is OK.

Let's hope and pray that Mom's surgery is also going well, that her doctor is skillful and that he and the staff are paying attention to her possible internal bleeding. Let's hope and pray for a successful recovery/rehabilitation during which Mom will keep up her spirits even through pain and exhaustion and also loneliness when no familiy members are in town. Two First Presbyterian Church pastoral associates - Mom's friend De and Emory, the retired pastor of a Lutheran church here - both called yesterday to offer support and prayer. Emory also offered to be at the hospital, but Mom said that was OK as I was here. Of course, Mom's church friend Nora also came to set up the router for Mom's WiFi. And my sister Penny called - straight from Jacob's elementary school promotion ceremony which was ironic because it involved saying good-bye to their first-grade teacher and hello to their new second-grade teacher which he will never have since he's going to third grade - to check on Mom around 11 a.m.

I await news at 1:30 p.m. from Dr. Fahey (pictured above bottom, underneath of a wide panorama shot of the hospital) and/or the board to switch to blue, meaning Mom has lift surgery.

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