Monday morning, Colin does not feel good. We slept fairly well but he has the tingling sensations and muscle spasms as the meds wear off. He is grumpy, glaring at the aide who comes in for his ROM. I go get coffee. After ROM the neurosurgeon PA stops by. He says everything looks good. I ask if there has been a definite connection between the abscess and the spinal surgery area. He says he doesn’t know but he will have the neurosurgeon answer that question. I let him know that will be appreciated.
I return then check the schedule. He has PT from 10:30 to noon, OT at 1 and another PT at 2:45. He also has surgery today which means something, if not everything, will be changed. I have his nurse check when he is scheduled. She tells us 1:30. I start getting him dressed for PT when another nurse comes in. “Everything is on hold, he goes at 10:30”. I let her know we were told 1:30. She goes to check. I get more coffee, Colin get more grumpy. By 10 I have 30 minutes to get him dressed so go out to check. The PCA tells me it is 1:30 and he will have PT. I get him dressed, washed, teeth brushed. PT brings in the chair. I do all the chair transfers today even while he is hooked up to an IV. Tricky not getting tangled, have to stay low for a while. He does arm exercises, has some ultra sound and I “leak” blood on the mat. Damn. I had just changed too. Have to excuse myself, go change, clean up, get a fresh pair of jeans, wash my pants and get back to therapy. I apologize feeling like this should have stopped happening to me 20 years ago. No break ever, it really is a curse.
After PT we have to get him back in bed, undressed and ready for surgery. They show up to get him at 12:45. I wolf my lunch so I am ready to go. We go down to a different surgery area than when he had his neck operations. This one is more outpatient it seems. We are put in a room, vitals are taken and then we wait. The staff has said he will have general anesthesia for this procedure. I ask if he can feel me touching his pelvis, the bladder area so he has an idea of where the tube will be. He says he can, just a little. We wait some more. We wait so long, Colin falls asleep. Two and a half hours we wait. He is not taken in to surgery until 4 pm.
In the waiting room I read and watch the status monitor. His surgery is complete in about 45 minutes. I wait. His status on the monitor changes from Out of OR to In Recovery. I wait. After 40 minutes I ask the receptionist if someone is going to come out and tell me how it went. She says he has been in recovery for 45 minutes so probably not. I wait another hour, nothing changes. I go ask if I will be told when he goes back to his room. “Someone will come get you, or they will call me. What is the name again?” I tell her. “Oh, he went back to his room already.” Nice. I go back to his room, he is there and has been for about 15 minutes. I was invisible once again.
The procedure went well, no problems, no blood on the urine, no tube in his penis anymore. He is still groggy from the general and just wants to watch TV and doze. I lie down on the cot, surf a little. I am on the last chapter of Cloud Atlas so will need another book. After sitting in the pre-op room for hours, and then the waiting room for hours more, my old ass is killing me. Even lying on the cot is uncomfortable. This place just blows.
Colin rests, watches TV, dozes. I turn him, text my husband, look for another book. By 11:00 he has his sleeping meds and we settle down for another night, one less night to go before we get out of here. I Facetime with my husband, get Colin turned, comfortable with the TV sleep timer on. I know we have much more to learn, PT will continue after he is discharged and will be a trek to town, but we will be home. I just want to have us home.