Wow! What a day yesterday was!
We got to the hospital around 12:15 for the 1:30 surgery. Patty was feeling pretty anxious on the drive which was evident by not one word being said. I tried to get her to talk, but she just wasn’t in the mood. I totally understand and would probably be the same if it were me! We checked in with the admitting person in the surgical center and had a short wait before they called her back to get into the “gown”. After seeing Patty in her “gown” I realized that someone could make a killing in the hospital gown business if they designed one that actually looked good! But, a green gown with the hospital issue purple socks just wasn’t doing it for me. Anyway, back to yesterday. We had a good hour to kill in the pre-surgery room waiting for 1:30. Tick……….. Tick…………. Tick! Time dragged. Finally the anesthesiologist came in. What a nice man! Very thorough in explaining his role during the surgery. His demeanor was very calming to Patty. The surgical nurse came in as the anesthesiologist left. She also had this calming effect on Patty. Wow! Two for two! As she left, Patty’s surgeon came in. Three for three! It was a good start to surgery. The surgeon told me she’d come into the waiting room when she was finished and anticipated the surgery to go between and hour and an hour and a half. They were ready! I gave Patty a kiss and off she went, looking pretty hip, I must say, in her hospital gown! They took Patty back for surgery around 1:40.
I made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up things for Patty’s dinner. Coming out of surgery, I figured since Patty hadn’t eaten since 7:00 the previous night, she would like something tasty but not spicy. So… grill cheese sandwiches and tomato soup was the menu. I got back to the hospital around 2:30. I guessed they’d finish with the surgery around 3:30. So, there I sat in the waiting room with a pile of Sunset magazines they provided. I read through about four of them and looked at the clock… 3:35 p.m. Ahh, they should be finishing up anytime. Five minutes passed and… and… and… the power went out! Thank goodness I don’t freak too easily, but knowing my wife was in surgery and now no power? I do know that hospitals have emergency power for just this reason so I was pretty calm, but still! The surgery nurse came out to see me at 3:55 p.m. She said she just wanted to ease my mind that everything was fine, the had backup power, and they’d be finishing up with Patty’s surgery in 10 to 15 minutes. Phew! The surgeon came out at 4:05 saying she was done and Patty did great! She said she was able to make the necessary repairs, nip and tuck here and there, and was able to put a new implant in which was the same size as the other breast! That’s great news! That means no more surgeries… hopefully.
I’d never seen Patty, or anyone for that fact, minutes after surgery. Wow… Patty talked to me with no clue what she was saying or to whom she was saying it to! Wow! He first thing out of her mouth, in a very slurred speech, was: “God was with me the whole time!” Patty came “out of the influence” within a half hour and was ready to go home and eat! (That’s a good sign)
It seemed like everyone wanted to leave the hospital at the same time we were leaving. The four story parking structure was backed up for four floor! It dawned on me since the power was out the signal lights on the street weren’t working! Needless to say, our fifteen minute drive home was much much longer! I listened to the car radio and learned that the entire San Diego County was without power and San Diego Gas & Electric had no idea what caused the blackout, where the outage initiated and when power would be restored. Of all days for the power to be out… it’s 99 degrees outside… my wife just had surgery…. no power means no air conditioner…. and we have an electric stove! Things weren’t looking all that good for the night. But, with some ingenuity, we’d make it work.
Patty was in a lot of pain as we drove home but I had her take more meds when we arrived at our house. They kicked in around 6:30 p.m. and she was fine. I’ve learned that it’s all about pain management!
Last night was kind of nice. We had candlelight. I literally made grilled cheese sandwiches on the grill! (by the way, I’ve never made them that way before and I’ll never do them any other way in the future!) I have a battery-powered radio so we tuned into a station that was giving updates on the outage. We had a good night. Patty went to bed around 8:30 and I followed around 10:30. No power when I went to bed but it was restored at 4:00 a.m.
Patty woke up this morning around 6 a.m. She was in a great mood and wanted to talk talk talk! Me? I had my head buried in a pillow trying to pretend I was sound asleep. Meanwhile Mrs. Gabby started carrying on about everything under the sun. I had to give up on sleep when I realized that she had pretty much slept most of the day before and she was done with sleep. She did say one thing that caught my attention. She said: “Today is the first day in I can’t remember how long that I feel positive! Positive about going forward.” You don’t know how glad I was to hear her make that statement!
So, bottom line… Patty is doing great (as long as she takes her pain meds) We admired her new breast this morning when she took a shower. Wow! It’s taking shape and now they’re both the same size! I’m pretty impressed!