Surgery Woes

 We had the appointment with the surgeon's nurse practitioner. I really like her, it is like seeing an old friend when we go. In case you may be wondering why I go to my husband's appointments. Out of necessity. His ability to hear every single word is just not there. When he fills in what he THINKS was said, things get out of whack. When asked about the medications on his chart and whether or not he is still taking them, his eyes glaze over and he stares off into the unknown. He has no idea, I take care of all of it. I make sure the refills are done and I carefully fill his pill taker every week. All that is required of him is to determine what day it is and whether it is morning or evening and take the pills.

I know it sounds easy and it should be. I am at a loss in figuring out how he can manage to get them mixed up. I do two weeks at a time and it looks as if he does a game of eenie meenie minie mo and just randomly takes pills. If he doesn't spill them.

Spilling them always causes panic in me. Not for him , but if they hit the floor and one of my dogs gets even one of the pills it would cause the dog to be very sick, if not die. He doesn't seem to grasp the same urgency like I do. But, I digress.

I already knew something was not right. We had not heard from the scheduling nurse at the hospital, nothing on his online chart. No paperwork to fill out and return. We didn't even have a time for the surgery or when to arrive. Of course I did not share my thoughts with Mr. Grumpy.

Susan arrived in the exam room with the surgical permission form ready to sign and I jumped right in to tell her we had no information about anything. She excused herself and went to her office to see what was going on. She had submitted the request and done everything on her end, but the scheduling nurse had been on family leave to handle issues with her sick father. Her replacement either didn't get the request or it didn't reach her. Mistakes happen. Something nobody wants to think about when contemplating surgery.

Surgery is now scheduled for November 30. Susan accepted responsibility for the mishap and apologized profusely. She tried everything to make this happen on the 9th, but Dr. Ross is booked solid. I am okay with the delay. I don't want an overworked tired doctor digging around the arteries in my husband's legs. We will wait.

Easy for me to say, I wasn't the one going under the knife. He had psyched himself up and was ready for surgery. He acted like a child someone took the candy from. He said he would just not have surgery. His arms crossed across his chest and a scowl on his face.

I said he was having surgery, no more discussion. I am the one who watches him stumble and sometimes go to the ground, I am the one who listens to him complain and I am the one who gets woken up when he moans in his sleep. He is having surgery, or he will lose his mobility. A wheelchair will not fit in the house, he would run over me and the dogs!

So, we will be in Atlanta on the last day of the month. The main worry he seems to have is about me driving home alone after he is in recovery. He thinks I should put out lots of water, food and pee pads for the dogs and stay in Atlanta and doze in the waiting room. The dogs have never been left to their own devices overnight and I am not looking forward to discovering what they might do without supervision. And I need my bed and a good night's sleep in order to nurse the post-op patient!