Thursday, January 3, 2008

Mom's Surgery - 1/3/2008

Today is mom's surgery and I knew it would be a long day so I cam prepared. I figured I'd jot a few things down through out the day and then transfer it to my blog later... so here it is!

Disclaimer: I'm using a laptop to transfer my notes and am not really proofing so please don't mind any misspellings etc. :-)

I know I mentioned in a previous post that they would probably want us here during rush hour, but I guess I was wrong. They wanted us here at 5:30am. So there was no traffic but I did want to leave at 4:30am to make sure we got here on time. I got up at 3:45. Mom stayed the night so I wouldn't have to worry about picking her up. When I went to wake mom up she wanted to go back to bed for 15 minutes but she got up anyway. Which was good because we did make it out on time.

It's now 6am and they've taken mom back - I'm assuming for prep. They didn't tell me or allow me to go with her. They said they'd come back to get me, we'll see.

The waiting room I'm in seems nice enough. I'm not sure if this is where I stay till she gets out. More and more people keep showing up so its getting louder. I have an idiot who brought his laptop and playing music on it as if the rest of us want to hear it. If this is where I have to stay I'll move to another section and eventually put on my iPod.

Like I said I came prepared. I brought my book of paper and pen not only to jot down my blog thoughts but also to note anything that the Dr. might tell me.

--> Okay I have to move <-- Maybe he'll realize when everyone around him moves. Anywho, I also brought a deck of cards and a single player hand game, Battleship. ANd my book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" that I bought before I started the Little House books so I figured I'd start it finally.

Idiot man with laptop just got called out so hopefully I don't have to deal with him anymore.

8:45am
I'm back in the waiting room. They finally let me see mom before she went off to surgery. They had put all the tubes and stuff in her before I'd gotten there.

Got to meet one of the Dr's and he was going over what was scheduled for today. Then he noticed something in her recordes that he had questions about and had to consult with her other Dr. Evidently she also has manastatic cancer that was potentially spread to the bones. This is from her breast cancer. This Dr. didn't know if we should still do the surgery because this manastatic cancer is more serious than what she's scheduled for and he didn't think it was worth while cutting her up. There was alot of confusion as he was tryin to explain to mom and mom trying to ask questions. Finally he came back and said surgery would go as scheduled. So today's procedure will include:
  • Remove the left kidney - they've determined this is a new cancer and not associated with the breast cancer
  • Right Adrenal Gland - 2 potential things to do, either biopsy it or remove. They've pretty much decided this one is related to the breast cancer. When we came in this morning it was our understanding that they were taking it out so I'm not exactly sure why the change in plans. I didn't ask.

They guesstimate about 2-3 hours to complete surgery.

So when I left her as she went to surgery I finally grabbed something to eat at the McDonalds they have here.

I don't think I'm in the mood to read yet so I think I'll throw on my iPod and play Battleship.

9:45am
The nurse called me to let me know that the left kidney is out and now they've going to biopsy the right adrenal gland

10:15am
Dr. came to see me. Told me mom was out of surgery she was doing good. She's in recovery and they'll come get me when she's awake and I can sit with her. Then I assume we'll get her room.

Funny I had just turned to page 1 of my book so didn't realize the Dr. was walking straight for me until he sat right in front of me.

Just a side note - you know in the waiting room they have coffee. And when I stay at a hotels they ahve coffee in your room. But you know I don't drink coffee, why not include some hot chocolate or something for me? I wouldn't mind something warm to drink. Anywho.

12:15pm
I'm still in the waiting room and no one has come to get me or call me since she's gotten out of surgery. I'm so tired. There's just so many positions you can try and sit/lay down in your chair to get a bit of sleep and I just know its going to put a nice kink in my neck and ache in my back. Oh and I'm starting to get hungry but don't want to chance missing someone come in by leaving to get something to eat.

1:15pm
I finally got to see mom. She was still drugged up so was asleep. Now we're just waiting on a room to open up. They say this can take a few hours up to all night. Hopefully it doesn't last that long.

The nurse I talked to said she was doing good, here heart rate was a little high so they're watching that.

Sis is leaving work early to come up. She's grabbing something for me to eat - very nice of her.

There's now a couple of girls sitting close to me just chatting away. One has a ringtone that's still Christmassy. Again I have mine on vibrate. BTW - one of the girls had a MySpace account but deleted it because the only people who were looking at it and talking to her through it were people she went to school with, "I had one class with you and we never talked then, so why do I want to talk to you now?" Ok, I'm bored.

Another side note - So I've recently discovered that the company who bought the company I work for is giving everyone who has a Manager title and above a bonus on top of their normal bonus. Just nice!!!! I continue to get no bonus. People in my department continue to receive no recognition or awards from our boss and now they get extra money!? That's just f*cked up!!!! I still like my job but really starting to hate the company.

Today is a big meeting with all of admin and Supervisors where they give us an update on what's going on and open it up to questions. If I was there today I was really concedering asking about this bonus. I'm sure there are many people who don't know about this key peice of information.

2:45pm
Sis came with the food and we woofed it down. Then I took her back to where mom was. She was semi awake. She was in a bit of pain - understandably. Sis and I are back in the waiting room and the lady who assists just fed the fishies. They're swimming around all happy and everything. We're playing Gin Rummy. I'm kicking sis's butt! ;-)

9:15pm
Mom was finally moved to a room just before 6pm. Lucky the timing as there are strict visiting times for the ICU area. It started at 6pm for 30 minutes and then you can't come back till 8pm. Evidently it runs every 2 hours. She was still in a bit of pain and feeling nauseated. We still don't know how long she'll be in the hospital to re-coop. Hopefully we'll here something more tomorrow. Sis stayed to visit mom again during the 8pm slot. I left about 7pm and now at home. I'll probably drop by tomorrow after work.

Well I'm off to do "poo duty" {cleaning out the cat litter box}, take a shower and go to bed. Later!

~ Wolf Lover Girl

3 comments:

Jess said...

Wow! A very long day. So glad to hear your Mom is doing well, though! We're thinking about her :)

Roz (Rozzana) said...

I'm glad the surgery went well, tell your mom we send our best.

Wolf Lover Girl said...

thanks guys!

~ Wolf Lover Girl