Post-procedure, day 1
Mom didn't get home until about 10 last night, and then she proceeded to talk about some of what happened. After about 20 minutes, dad started getting cranky--what, like you have to get up and go to work tomorrow? Sheesh. He was wide awake and watching TV, not like he was sleeping or anything. Mom and I went upstairs and continued talking for a little bit before I retreated to my room, since we did in fact have to get up in the morning.
I'm not sure any of us realized she was going to have a portion of her colon removed. Like, okay, go in and get the mass, snip snip, all is well. Uh, no--they took out about 6" of her colon too. Five incisions. I was not expecting that. When grandma came to, she was complaining that she was in pain, so they gave her morphine, and then she kept asking for more; she could only have so much and then would have to wait several hours. Mom kept telling her to sleep it off. She also had a catheter and a drain to remove excess blood, since with all those incisions, there was internal bleeding. I'm sure my uncle was thrilled--back during the appendix excitement in 2016, I learned he's not fond of blood. My aunt, upon seeing grandma in pain and all the various contraptions attached to her, then panicked--I don't think I can do this! She'd offered to take grandma in to convalesce, but the initial version of post-op grandma was overwhelming and she wondered if perhaps having her go to skilled nursing care would be a better option.
At least they got a laugh at mom's expense. Mom's older brother and/or his companion got called, I think, to give them the update, except the companion then started in on this litany of whatever, like going into my older uncle's health problems, and the woman kept talking, and talking, and talking. Mom mimed for me what she was doing at the time--holding the phone out to the side, over her head, away from her, and the companion was just rattling on. Apparently this amused my aunt so much that she started crying and my younger uncle had to get her a tissue. Mom's faces at the time probably helped.
Today, I checked my phone a few times at work, and I saw that mom was going to leave work at noon and go to the hospital to check on things. I next checked my phone at about 2:30 and found a whopping 17 texts. Holy crap, what's going on? And again, it was via group text, so I had a bunch of disjointed texts that, frankly, would've disturbed me had I not known my parents like I do.
From mom:
--Do you want it
--Okay (thumbs up emoji)
--Okay (thumbs up emoji)
...Do I really want to see this? Yikes.
And then came
--Which do you prefer
--Then I want silver
What on earth is going on??? So now I check dad's thread.
--Was at Walmart and saw these (picture of microwaves on display)
--They're the same as what we have.
--The control panel is a little different.
Phew. Context is everything. So, the rest of the conversation is them discussing microwaves and which color to get (choices: silver, black, and "fun metal," i.e., gunmetal), with the final text being a picture of the new microwave on our counter at home. Guys, that's all fine and dandy, but how's grandma?!
I didn't leave work until after 4, and the weather was not great; it had started snowing. It's supposed to be bitterly cold by Sunday. Mom was already home; grandma was doing much better today. She was sitting in a chair, sleeping, when mom got there. Eventually she woke up (likely after mom had found the cafeteria--what, it was only open 'til 1:30! she said), and she had no recollection of last night, no memory of saying it hurts or she wanted more morphine, though she said she remembered my dad joking about asking for morphine...which didn't happen. They'd made grandma get up and walk around a bit, and pulled the catheter. Grandma told the doctor she could go home on Sunday. Uh...not quite. Actually, the criteria is that she has to have a bowel movement, to make sure all is working well over there. She is eating some soft foods, like gelatin and Italian ice. Apparently grandma freaked out because they fed her something red--I'm not supposed to eat that! Mom had to go, no, it's fine, that was just before your procedure. Mom saw the doctor and I think my uncle talked to the social worker over the phone (he will visit tomorrow); because there aren't any open wounds, she likely wouldn't need to go to a skilled nursing facility. She could, however, have a home care visitor a few times a week, even if she's at my aunt and uncle's house.
We--especially mom--feel much better about things today. Yesterday, when grandma was complaining about the pain, mom wondered if they'd done the right thing, but hopefully her recovery continues in this direction.
I'm not sure any of us realized she was going to have a portion of her colon removed. Like, okay, go in and get the mass, snip snip, all is well. Uh, no--they took out about 6" of her colon too. Five incisions. I was not expecting that. When grandma came to, she was complaining that she was in pain, so they gave her morphine, and then she kept asking for more; she could only have so much and then would have to wait several hours. Mom kept telling her to sleep it off. She also had a catheter and a drain to remove excess blood, since with all those incisions, there was internal bleeding. I'm sure my uncle was thrilled--back during the appendix excitement in 2016, I learned he's not fond of blood. My aunt, upon seeing grandma in pain and all the various contraptions attached to her, then panicked--I don't think I can do this! She'd offered to take grandma in to convalesce, but the initial version of post-op grandma was overwhelming and she wondered if perhaps having her go to skilled nursing care would be a better option.
At least they got a laugh at mom's expense. Mom's older brother and/or his companion got called, I think, to give them the update, except the companion then started in on this litany of whatever, like going into my older uncle's health problems, and the woman kept talking, and talking, and talking. Mom mimed for me what she was doing at the time--holding the phone out to the side, over her head, away from her, and the companion was just rattling on. Apparently this amused my aunt so much that she started crying and my younger uncle had to get her a tissue. Mom's faces at the time probably helped.
Today, I checked my phone a few times at work, and I saw that mom was going to leave work at noon and go to the hospital to check on things. I next checked my phone at about 2:30 and found a whopping 17 texts. Holy crap, what's going on? And again, it was via group text, so I had a bunch of disjointed texts that, frankly, would've disturbed me had I not known my parents like I do.
From mom:
--Do you want it
--Okay (thumbs up emoji)
--Okay (thumbs up emoji)
...Do I really want to see this? Yikes.
And then came
--Which do you prefer
--Then I want silver
What on earth is going on??? So now I check dad's thread.
--Was at Walmart and saw these (picture of microwaves on display)
--They're the same as what we have.
--The control panel is a little different.
Phew. Context is everything. So, the rest of the conversation is them discussing microwaves and which color to get (choices: silver, black, and "fun metal," i.e., gunmetal), with the final text being a picture of the new microwave on our counter at home. Guys, that's all fine and dandy, but how's grandma?!
I didn't leave work until after 4, and the weather was not great; it had started snowing. It's supposed to be bitterly cold by Sunday. Mom was already home; grandma was doing much better today. She was sitting in a chair, sleeping, when mom got there. Eventually she woke up (likely after mom had found the cafeteria--what, it was only open 'til 1:30! she said), and she had no recollection of last night, no memory of saying it hurts or she wanted more morphine, though she said she remembered my dad joking about asking for morphine...which didn't happen. They'd made grandma get up and walk around a bit, and pulled the catheter. Grandma told the doctor she could go home on Sunday. Uh...not quite. Actually, the criteria is that she has to have a bowel movement, to make sure all is working well over there. She is eating some soft foods, like gelatin and Italian ice. Apparently grandma freaked out because they fed her something red--I'm not supposed to eat that! Mom had to go, no, it's fine, that was just before your procedure. Mom saw the doctor and I think my uncle talked to the social worker over the phone (he will visit tomorrow); because there aren't any open wounds, she likely wouldn't need to go to a skilled nursing facility. She could, however, have a home care visitor a few times a week, even if she's at my aunt and uncle's house.
We--especially mom--feel much better about things today. Yesterday, when grandma was complaining about the pain, mom wondered if they'd done the right thing, but hopefully her recovery continues in this direction.