I'm back

My sister Irma's surgery went well. Almost as soon as she got settled in her own room, she had some moderate bleeding from one of the incisions (there are 5 I believe) which caused them to not give her any more blood thinners. The blood thinners were supposed to be a twice-a-day injection to ward off blood clots, so that increased the need to walk around and keep on her foot pumps (a clever device that simulates walking by compressing the bottoms of your feet alternately every few seconds). She also had to stay one more day than expected because of nausea. The doctors and nurses were great. In particular, I really liked the surgeon, Dr. Tanaka. I was in the surgery waiting room, and the staff were calling the room on the phone. A waiting family member would pick up and ask around for who's waiting for such-and-such person... Dr. Tanaka was only one of two doctors in the 3-4 hours that I was in the waiting room who actually came to the waiting room to look for the respective families and talk face-to-face, that actually made a big impression on me. They had us a little bit concerned that I wouldn't be able to spend the night (we hadn't budgeted for a hotel), but someone else who knew better cleared it up for us. In fact, they said that once in a while they don't have enough room but not as many people have this kind of surgery during the holiday season. So I got my own little (tiny, moderately comfortable) cot. It was a room for two patients, and they were kind enough to "reserve" the other half of the room so no patients were put in it unless they got inundated. Since it was half of a patient room, I had my own TV and lights and such, which was cool. They gave me a badge that would validate my parking for the whole time we were there, but I actually never left the hospital. I ate at the cafeteria, it was closer and healthier (not necessarily cheaper though) and I wanted to get back as soon as I could. It always seemed like every time I went to go eat, there was a nurse or therapist or someone in the room when I got back. =P Friday night, I couldn't sleep. It was about 7pm before Irma was moved from recovery to her own room. I went to dinner about that time, and I was having trouble sleeping, partly because at about 10pm we noticed she was bleeding when blood soaked through her hospital gown. We didn't attempt to sleep until about 1:30am. Many phone calls to be made that night as well. Saturday night, I knocked out  pretty quick (after midnight vitals) but woke up every time a nurse came into the room. Saturday night, I was vaguely aware that the nurse was changing the dressing from where it was bleeding. I remember Irma telling me "it's bleeding again" and I nodded and went back to sleep.  I don't know what time it was, but I was too tired to even respond. Sunday night, I woke up hearing "what's your sister's name?" from the nurse. It was 4am, and she wanted me to go for a few laps around the floor with Irma while she changed the sheets (more bleeding). We walked, then I went back to sleep until like 10am. On Monday, the bleeding issue was finally resolved, and I think I actually slept though the night. When I woke up, Irma was already sitting up drinking some water and I think she'd even had her vitals taken before I woke up. I've been getting progressively more tired through the stay, and I think I'm going to sleep off a good part of tomorrow... I must say that I think it's a great idea on the hospital's part to allow one person to stay, I'm not sure if that's an arrangement through the bariatric practice that they're working with or what, because not everyone on our pre-dominantly post-surgery floor got to have overnight visitors (the two Department of Corrections officers guarding a patient down the hall don't count as overnight "visitors"). It certainly frees up a lot of the nurses' time to have a family member to do menial tasks like helping with shoes, food, clothes, walking, and so on. Also, when the patient is on narcotic medication such as morphine, it's good to have someone there to make sure that medical instructions are retained and followed. On the way back home today, we went to the store (well, she waited in the car) and got chicken broth, which will be her main non-water sustenance until she's able to eat solid foods. Water for hydration, vitamins and protein drinks (a powder mixed in water) for nutrition, and chicken broth for variety and flavor. I think that she was well prepared for what to expect her lifestyle to be after surgery, but it was still a bit of a shock to actually change to it. Not in the sense of difference from her old lifestyle, so much as difference from being in the hospital. We were counting on our fingers how many hours since her last IV-injections of certain medications to determine whether she needed to take the full day's dose after she was released or not, for example. Tomorrow should be easier, I'm going to have to keep on top of her about it. Particularly about water, she needs to drink more water than she really ever has. She needs to go back for a follow up on Wednesday of next week, which I plan to drive her to. (She actually can't drive for "a couple of weeks" which may put a damper on Christmas plans. At the follow up, she should know more about when each limitation will be lifted.) She hasn't made the appointment yet, but we're hoping to do 1:30/2:00pm or so, so that we can leave after the people with the real jobs have arrived at work and thus have left the freeways. We made about 2.5 hours on Thursday leaving at 9:30am. It was more like 4 hours driving back today though, first we stopped for gas at Sea World Drive, then to walk at the rest stop in the area of Camp Pendleton, then for me to have lunch (my only meal so far today, which reminds me that I'm hungry now) and her to walk again in Buena Park, then to the store once we were in El Monte... My other sister, Martha, called on Thursday (the night before her surgery) to talk about some family drama that's going on... It's kind of a long story, which I suppose I may write about later if anything actually becomes of it. Sufficed to say for the moment, however, that it's a matter of prolonged hardship for Irma and her husband if Martha gets her way. She's attempting to spin it in such a way that it looks like an attractive option for everyone involved, and of course she uses the children as an excuse. Even if it was a good idea, it really wasn't appropriate to talk about it the night before a major surgery. Irma was stressed about the conversation even until today, but we hadn't heard from Martha since Friday I think (I talked to her, Irma was asleep at the time). We theorized that Mom may have told Martha to knock it off after Irma told Mom about the phone call. However, when Mom and Dad came to see Irma today at her house, they said they actually haven't seen or heard from Martha in two days. Yet, that's not unusual for her. That's probably a bad thing, if something were to happen to her we wouldn't recognize it or differentiate it from her normal behavior. (And that's probably why she doesn't have her kids with her anymore.) Anyhow, I'm really glad that I was able to be there for my sister when she needed someone. I know I wouldn't want to go through an experience like that alone. Many thanks to my husband for making it possible for me to not have to work, and for making his own meals for almost a week while I was gone. He even did some laundry and house cleaning, I'm quite impressed!