My Patient

Yesterday, I spent the day at the hospital with my dad. He was having his rotator cuff repaired. We ended up needing to be there by 10:15 am and when we got there and him checked in we found out the doc was running behind because he had some long surgeries to do. My dad was suppose to go under the knife at a quarter to twelve, but ended up about 1:30. Meanwhile, he is snoozing in the bed and I am hanging out on the uncomfy chairs trying to rest as well. He finally got taken back and I was able to go wait in the waiting room which had better chairs!! About an hour later the computer screen where you can see if they are in surgery or not said he was in recovery. I was like, "Yes! We can get out of here soon!" Well the doc came out to show me what he did about a half hour later. They ended up having to make a 2-3 in incision and put in 3 anchors to reattach his rotator cuff. Well, I wasn't able to go in and see him for abour another hour to hour and a half. He was stinking hilarious afterwards, but still in pain. He has a pain catheter in his incision that gives him direct pain reliever and he can push a button to get more. Kind of like having an epidural for those of ya who have had one! Then, the blue hose is connected to a cooler of ice and water. The blue hose is connected to an ice pad that the water circulates through. It is kind of cool, but he has to unhook it every time he gets up. Well, we didn't leave the hospital until about 6:30 and I had to run to Wally World after I got him home to get his perscriptions. So, I didn't get to wind down until about 8pm. The greatest part is that I was planning on taking Everett with us to the hospital and Rex's dad offered to come get him and take him back to his house to play. He even ended up taking work off last night since we were so late getting home. I owe him. Everett would've been going crazy, which would've been stressful for me and I could've been wheeled down the hall in labor! Thank goodness it didn't happen. So I am so grateful he was willing to do that for us and I have to think of something to do in return for him!!

Well, last night neither my dad or I slept very well. He had to sleep on the couch in the recliner, which really isn't all that comfy. I told him to call my phone if he needed anything. I told him he was not to get his meds by himself, since I wanted to monitor when he took them and what not. And he was going to need my help to unhook his arm from his cooler. About 3 hours after going to bed I heard something that woke me up and decided I had to tinkle. So, I did my business and went to check on my dad. Sure enough he was up but hadn't called me. His cooler has to be plugged into the wall and it is on a 25 foot extension cord. He was trying to haul it up the stairs to go to the bathroom. I of course stopped him, unhooked it, let him go, and waited until he came back to hook it back up. I then gave him some meds. I got him all set and went back upstairs to bed. Well, by this time, the little man inside was awake having a party and I have a cold and couldn't breath while laying down. After about an hour or so I finally got up and hauled my pillow and blanket down stairs to sleep on the other side of the couch so I could sit up higher and breath. I think I got another 2-3 hours of sleep before I was up for good. I am not upset though because I am going to be getting up in the nights here soon anyways and my dad hardly got any sleep, so I feel bad for him. So, that is how my day was yesterday! My dad has done a lot for us and so I want to be able to help him out for as long as the baby wants to stay inside. It might be kind of hard after he gets here, so I hope he stays for a little bit longer!