Today is a not a day I was looking forward to. My mom had triple by-pass surgery. I came down for the surgery and plan to be here to Thursday, June 28th. Leading up to the surgery, I heard tips and advice from so many of my friends whose parents have been through the same thing. This was not going to be easy. And it was not going to be fun.
There aren't many people in this world I love as much as my mom. She HAS TO be ok. I am so grateful that I can be down here and help my mom through this. Jeff is an amazing source of support and is in charge back at home. A few months ago, I had planned with a bunch of my friends and their kids to do a trip to Dutch Wonderland (in Lancaster, PA) for this exact day. Without hesitation, Jeff said he would go in my place and take the kids. So imagine this sight -- Jeff is hanging out with 6 moms and over 20 kids. He is going to spend the night in Lancaster and continue with my original plans for Wednesday to do the Turkey Hill Experience and see how ice cream is made. Seriously, Jeff is going way beyond my expectations and is stepping up big-time in my absence.
The past two nights I haven't been able to sleep. My mind keeps racing back and forth between my mom and praying all will turn out with her surgery and recovery. And then, my mind shifts gears to Jeff and the kids. Hoping that being gone for 10 days is not too long and all will go well with the Lancaster trip. I really want Sam to be on her best behavior and not have one meltdown after another, causing much undue stress for Jeff and Ian.
When we got one last chance to see Mom before they took her away, I asked the nurse if I could be in the operating room during the surgery. I know this was an absurd request and was appropriately denied. But maybe if I could be there first hand and see that everything was going as planned, I'd feel better. I have 36 years of watching "General Hospital" under my belt, surely that could somehow help in the operating room, right?!?!
The duration of the surgery was about 3 hours. We had another 2 hour wait until we could see my mom in ICU. She wasn't awake yet and still hooked up to everything under the sun, but she looked good. It was a big sense of relief to see her and know she was going to be alright. The rules are pretty strict in ICU. You are only allowed to visit for 30 minutes, 4 times a day. So, when I go back at 5:00pm, she should be awake. I asked her nurse if I could just hang out there and not leave. This woman thought I was off my rocker and without hesitation, she said very strongly "No, you need to go."
The 5:00pm and 8:00pm visits were almost identical. 30 minutes of watching my mom sleep. Apparently once she has anesthesia in her, it takes a very long time to leave her body. I hope that on Wednesday when we see her it will result in a two-way conversation. Because right now I am all talked out speaking for the both of us for the whole visit.
I heard from Jeff and it sounds to me like the day could not have gone better for him and the kids. I am so happy they had fun. At 9:15pm, Jeff said he got the kids down and will be going to sleep himself. It was a long day for him. And me for that matter.
Tomorrow is a new day. I'm in Orlando and the skies are sunny. Hope the sun will be shining brightly over Jeff, Ian and Sam too.
No comments:
Post a Comment