The Waiting Game

Today my mom had her surgery. She got up early and was ready to go by 8:00 AM and then we had to come up with something to do until it was time to drive across the street to the hospital for her 10:30 scheduled arrival time. She couldn't even use up some time eating breakfast since she had to fast. Just when we were getting tired of staring at each other my brother and my sister-in-law (my other brother's wife) arrived to give us someone new to look at. They had decided they wanted to hear what the doctor had to say and they also didn't want me to be waiting all alone. I appreciated their support and I'm sure mom did too.

When we arrived at the hospital they went to the waiting area and I stayed with mom to get all the paperwork filled out and the last minute tests conducted. Then we were escorted back to a curtained off cubicle and a reclining hospital chair to wait for it to be mom's turn. We waited and waited and waited. We talked about everything we could think of to talk about. We analyzed the interior decorating. We were fans of the clouds painted on the florescent light covers, but weren't at all sure that the fire engine red outlet covers went with the color scheme. We tried to decide if they glowed if the power went out, but then we decided it really wasn't important to know where the outlets were if you didn't have any electricity. We discussed the merits of hospital gowns and fuzzy socks. We tried to guess how much a hospital gown designer gets paid. I read the Outdoor Life magazine and learned that the life span of a frog can be as long as 39 years. Finally my mom's doctor and the oncologist who was assisting him dropped in to explain what they were going to do and to tell her the operating room was almost ready and then we waited some more. About noon they finally wheeled my mom to surgery and I went to the waiting room to wait some more.

Waiting made us all hungry so we decided to visit the hospital cafeteria for lunch. We all had turkey and I had a baked potato with mine. It was actually very good hospital food. Then we went back to wait a while longer. The doctor came out about 2:30 to tell us that the surgery and had gone well and what they had done and what to expect. He showed us with his hands the size of the patch of skin and tissue they had removed. It was about the size of a checkbook box. I'm not sure where they found that much flesh to cut out. He said they would keep mom until she was alert and then they would move her to her room on the 2nd floor. He told us to go upstairs in about an hour so we waited some more in the waiting room and then we headed for the elevator. The sign in the elevator said that the 2nd floor was Labor and Delivery and we weren't sure that was where my mom was really going to show up, but we got off and asked the nurses and they assured us that we were in the right place. They directed us to her room and we waited some more. About 4:00 my mom arrived in her room and we spent the next couple of hours listening to the alarms go off on her monitor while they tried to get her oxygen level and blood pressure stabilized and she tried to get comfortable with her entire body tied up to various machines and tubes.

My hand holders left about 6:30 or 7:00 and I went and bought my mom her fresh raspberry shake (which was her reward for being a good girl all day). We are grateful that our family has strong stomachs and don't throw up following surgery. The nurse told her she could have the shake once we were sure she could hold down food and she was anxious to get it after her not so delicious dinner of beef broth, herbal tea, water and a protein juice drink.

It was a long day of waiting but things seemed to go well and hopefully the problem is taken care of. Now we just have to wait for the report on the lymph nodes. More waiting.

Today I am thankful for

skilled doctors who can remove cancer from our bodies.
a brother and sister-in-law to keep me company and buy me lunch.
other people's opinionated kids who remind me that mine are normal.