Surgery Update

The Mom's surgery went well.  We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 this morning.  By 7, she went into surgery.  By 11, they were done and she was in recovery.  By 1 this afternoon, she was in her hospital room.  Seeing mom in pain is never a good thing for me.  I have a super low tolerance for pain, and seeing mom in pain made me lightheaded.  It probably didn't help that I had a work meeting at 11:30 downtown and had to haul back to West Des Moines where the hospital is so I didn't miss anything.  In my rush, I forgot to eat lunch.  I don't skip meals.  I get hangry when I don't eat.  But, when mom is in pain or in the hospital, it doesn't really matter how I feel.  All I care about is how she is.  She's resting now in the recliner in her room.  Whenever she moves, I worry something is going to come undone and her intestines will come shooting out the three-inch cut in her throat where they opened her up for surgery.  I'm a weenie.  I get scared when my mom is in pain.  I also get lightheaded when Sophie gets shots at the vet.  This is probably why it's a good thing I don't work as a health professional.

The view from the patio at the hospital.

Mom resting in her recliner.

Surgery Day

Today is my mom's back surgery day.  She's having C5 and C6 worked on...something about cervical fusion...cervical disks...I'm so confused.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning, and that's the extent of the information I retained from the surgeon, nurses, and anesthesiologist.  Basically, she's had lots of back pain in the past six months, weakness in her left arm (as in she has almost no strength to lift or grip things), and oodles of headaches. 

A couple months back, she had a myelography, which is essentially where they insert ionizing radiation in her spine, and see what happens.  The myelography procedure produces a myelogram, x-ray images that identify where there is an injury.  Mom had a terrible reaction to the procedure, and ended up vomiting for more than 12 hours before Josh and I drove her to the ER.  She was admitted to the hospital and stayed there for two days in an effort to reduce the vomiting and control her headaches.  Watching her in pain and not being able to do anything was torture.  I'm sure this would be the same feeling she would have if something happened to me. 

Anyway, today is the day when we hopefully get rid of all her pain.  Obviously, the surgery will leave some pain in the next couple of days, but she'll feel better soon...and that's all I care about.  About 57 minutes ago, she was wheeled away to surgery.  By 11 AM, she should be out of surgery and in recovery until about 5:30 tomorrow morning.  If you have a second, say a little prayer for her.  I need her around for a long time, so hopefully this surgery helps her feel better for that long time.