last week was a whirlwind...
I worked at an event representing Regent all day on Sat May 30, then the next day I dj'ed a wedding of a Brother (ADI folks: Celeste Craver is now Celeste Draughn!). Got home around 11, unloaded, packed, showered, and then Mark and I headed off to Richmond. We rolled in to the hotel room around 3am. I pretty much got 2 hrs of sleep; Mark got none. At 7:30, we met my mom at the hospital. Dad was taken into the OR at 8am. At 10, the surgeon comes out and tells Mom that he's out and off to the Recovery Room, and it sould be a couple of hours. He also tells her that many of the tumors removed were "fluffy" tumors...and Mom asks, "is that good??" Apparrently it is. However, Mark decides that will be my dad's new nickname: Fluffy!
So at 1:30, still no word that he's out of Recovery and in a room. Mom gets up to go to the bathroom, and is obviously agitated. Just as she leaves the chair, she gets buzzed. They had to take Dad back to the OR. He was bleeding too much, and then clotted up the catheter tube. Needless to say, not good news. They end up recauterizing the wounds and inserting a bigger tube for the catheter. (at that time, I was VERY glad that she was not sitting there alone!) When we get word he's back in a room, we finally get lunch. By this time, it's nearly 2. Oh, and I'm texting updates throughout the day to my sister in Oregon (who'll be coming in the next day), and John.
As Tom Petty sang, "the waiting is the hardest part." And we continue to wait for news. Finally at 5, Mom gets word that he's on his way to a room. WHOOSH! She's outta there and on her way...and Mark and I just wait. She comes back and gets us - turns out she BEAT the gurney to his room. We get up there, and visit w/ him til about 7. He's cracking jokes, saying that he felt just fine until he got to the hospital. He gets dinner, scarfs it down (mind you he hadn't eaten anything in nearly 24 hours), and then starts to get sleepy. The chair in the room is definitely NOT designed for sleeping - so I convince Mom that she needs to sleep in a real bed. We go to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, get back to the room, and she lays down. She didn't MOVE for 6 hrs - not even to flop over. She comments that she can't believe she slep so hard (until she had to get up to the bathroom)...I comment that initially, it wasn't sleep at all. It was being passed out from sheer mental and physical exhaustion!
The next morning, she's out the door at 6:30 to be there w/ Dad when he gets breakfast. We make it over there around lunchtime, right after Nikki gets over there herself. We all hang out there for a while, and then Nikki, me, and Mark decided that it was time for Mom and Dad to have their own time. We skeedoodle and go to the hotel pool to relax. Then, we go over to John's for dinner. Nikki ends up crashing at John's b/c she's just exhausted from her red-eye cross-country flight - so he brings her back to the hotel room before going to work.
Dad stays the night in the hospital because of the extra OR trip and bleeding. He goes home Wednesday around lunch.
Nikki heads off to visit friends, and Mark and I head home. Nikki comes to visit on Thursday, and leaves Friday to go to Mom & Dad's for the day. Seeing Nikki and Mark try to keep up with one another in the drinking department is FUNNY!
Friday afternoon, I get a call from Virginia Blood Services...which really confuses me. I'd taken myself out of their 'call me for donation reminder' list when I moved in with Mark. So tell the nice person that I don't live in Richmond anymore. She said that she knew I was on the 'inactive' list, but that I came up as a platelet match for a patient. And she begins to politely end the call...and I interrupt. "Hold on...I'm a match for someone? Ok, what have you got open on Saturday, because I will BE in Richmond for the weekend." Turns out, there were two openings: one at 6:30a and one at 9:30a. I tell her that since I have a choice, they really don't want to see me bleary-eyed at 6:30!
Mark and I leave for Richmond around 5pm, and unfortunately - we drive right into a nasty thunderstorm, and don't make it to Richmond til nearly 8. We meet up with some old and new APO staff alumni, most notably Lee Correll. I won't go into details, but the last time I saw him wasn't wonderful, and the last time John talked to him was even worse. T'was nice to let bygones be bygones and rekindle a friendship. For those of you who were supposed to come but couldn't, YOU WERE MISSED!!
Saturday while the rest of the 'reunion crew' went to do a service project at the old Pump House in Richmond, I went to my platelet donation. I sit down in the check-in station, and inform them that the ONLY thing that will match in their records is my phone number...even my name had changed! I was stuck at 9:50am, and was done by 11. Wow, apheresis has gotten so much quicker!!
We get home Sunday after two trips to Richmond in a week...boy, it was good to have my own bed!
Yesterday, Dad went for his followup urology appointment and got the catheter out. He's so much happier being untethered! (although Mom told me it was NOT fun when they pulled it out) Next week, they meet with the oncologist to discuss the pathology report of the tumors removed and determine what the 'next steps' are.
Travel for work kicks in this weekend and next week....
So at 1:30, still no word that he's out of Recovery and in a room. Mom gets up to go to the bathroom, and is obviously agitated. Just as she leaves the chair, she gets buzzed. They had to take Dad back to the OR. He was bleeding too much, and then clotted up the catheter tube. Needless to say, not good news. They end up recauterizing the wounds and inserting a bigger tube for the catheter. (at that time, I was VERY glad that she was not sitting there alone!) When we get word he's back in a room, we finally get lunch. By this time, it's nearly 2. Oh, and I'm texting updates throughout the day to my sister in Oregon (who'll be coming in the next day), and John.
As Tom Petty sang, "the waiting is the hardest part." And we continue to wait for news. Finally at 5, Mom gets word that he's on his way to a room. WHOOSH! She's outta there and on her way...and Mark and I just wait. She comes back and gets us - turns out she BEAT the gurney to his room. We get up there, and visit w/ him til about 7. He's cracking jokes, saying that he felt just fine until he got to the hospital. He gets dinner, scarfs it down (mind you he hadn't eaten anything in nearly 24 hours), and then starts to get sleepy. The chair in the room is definitely NOT designed for sleeping - so I convince Mom that she needs to sleep in a real bed. We go to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, get back to the room, and she lays down. She didn't MOVE for 6 hrs - not even to flop over. She comments that she can't believe she slep so hard (until she had to get up to the bathroom)...I comment that initially, it wasn't sleep at all. It was being passed out from sheer mental and physical exhaustion!
The next morning, she's out the door at 6:30 to be there w/ Dad when he gets breakfast. We make it over there around lunchtime, right after Nikki gets over there herself. We all hang out there for a while, and then Nikki, me, and Mark decided that it was time for Mom and Dad to have their own time. We skeedoodle and go to the hotel pool to relax. Then, we go over to John's for dinner. Nikki ends up crashing at John's b/c she's just exhausted from her red-eye cross-country flight - so he brings her back to the hotel room before going to work.
Dad stays the night in the hospital because of the extra OR trip and bleeding. He goes home Wednesday around lunch.
Nikki heads off to visit friends, and Mark and I head home. Nikki comes to visit on Thursday, and leaves Friday to go to Mom & Dad's for the day. Seeing Nikki and Mark try to keep up with one another in the drinking department is FUNNY!
Friday afternoon, I get a call from Virginia Blood Services...which really confuses me. I'd taken myself out of their 'call me for donation reminder' list when I moved in with Mark. So tell the nice person that I don't live in Richmond anymore. She said that she knew I was on the 'inactive' list, but that I came up as a platelet match for a patient. And she begins to politely end the call...and I interrupt. "Hold on...I'm a match for someone? Ok, what have you got open on Saturday, because I will BE in Richmond for the weekend." Turns out, there were two openings: one at 6:30a and one at 9:30a. I tell her that since I have a choice, they really don't want to see me bleary-eyed at 6:30!
Mark and I leave for Richmond around 5pm, and unfortunately - we drive right into a nasty thunderstorm, and don't make it to Richmond til nearly 8. We meet up with some old and new APO staff alumni, most notably Lee Correll. I won't go into details, but the last time I saw him wasn't wonderful, and the last time John talked to him was even worse. T'was nice to let bygones be bygones and rekindle a friendship. For those of you who were supposed to come but couldn't, YOU WERE MISSED!!
Saturday while the rest of the 'reunion crew' went to do a service project at the old Pump House in Richmond, I went to my platelet donation. I sit down in the check-in station, and inform them that the ONLY thing that will match in their records is my phone number...even my name had changed! I was stuck at 9:50am, and was done by 11. Wow, apheresis has gotten so much quicker!!
We get home Sunday after two trips to Richmond in a week...boy, it was good to have my own bed!
Yesterday, Dad went for his followup urology appointment and got the catheter out. He's so much happier being untethered! (although Mom told me it was NOT fun when they pulled it out) Next week, they meet with the oncologist to discuss the pathology report of the tumors removed and determine what the 'next steps' are.
Travel for work kicks in this weekend and next week....