Vacationing at St. Ag'

 It’s Wednesday morning and again with the priorities … the dogs & cat are fine.  Judi has the canines at her house and Sombra is at home.  She’ll stop at the house and take care of the cat on her way to work and Kasey is going to Jackie’s to play with Kelly.  These two gals have a program worked out and “my kids” are not an area of concern for me.  I can concentrate on the matter at hand.

The Physician Assistant has come in and advised that surgery won’t be until tomorrow evening.  Nothing much to do but wait it out.

Thursday night they took me to pre-op.  The anesthetist stopped by, he looks like he must be at least 14 years old but the nurses tell me he really knows his stuff.  The doctor stops in and tells me what he’s going to do and reassures me that he did it for me before and can do it again.  They wheel me away and next thing you know four and half hours have passed and I’m being very rudely awakened.

Upstairs to the ortho’ ward and back to sleep for the night.  Quarters not quite as snazzy as the previous nights but I have the room to myself and that’s a plus.  The sad thing is that I know some of the staff here from previous visits.  I had never really cared to be a repeat customer.  Now to the business of recovery.  The surgery went well, so I’m told.  They discovered anemia and that means transfusions which will slow the recovery period some but I’m expecting physical therapy to have me on my feet tomorrow, even just to stand for a couple of minutes and we’ll progress from there.

The hospital, any hospital, isn’t quite a vacation venue but St. Agnes is one of the best.  The staff is knowledgeable, caring, compassionate, and available to their patients.  It’s an environment that lends itself to the patient’s comfort and healing.  And a week is ample to take advantage of all it has to offer.

I’m informed that the next step is a rehab’ facility.  Seeing as how I can’t move by myself, let alone walk even with the walker, I guess I have to suck it up and go with the program.  As soon as the insurance authorizes the transfer, the next phase will begin. 

Still with me?  Next post we move to adventures in the Snake Pit.