K.I.S.S (Keepin' It Soooo Simple) Saturdays

Well, I'm back.

For the most part, yesterday went fairly well. I got to the hospital at 645am so I was sure to see my mom before she went into surgery. I just felt, given the complications associated with the surgery, that I should be there before she went under. I love her surgeon, Dr. Hunt. He's adorable and he's my knee doctor too, yippee! He was with my mom when I got there. I told him to take good care of her and then looked directly at my mom and said to her "no funny stuff in there, ok?" I was subtly referring to her last big surgery (a double knee replacement) 3 or 4 years ago when her heart was stopping, unbeknownst to her, and she ended up going home 14 days later with a pacemaker. Yikes.

After we left my mom, my brother, dad and I went to get a bite to eat in the hospital cafeteria. As I was heading to a table, I see Dr. Hunt! I'm like "why aren't you with my mom????"!!!! He laughs and says "I'm on my way to be with her right now". I told him that of course he needed nourishment for the surgery, so I would forgive him eating, lol. It was just sort of weird to see the surgeon who was supposed to be operating on your mom casually finishing breakfast!

After about an hour and a half, we get paged that mom is out of surgery, so we head up to the surgical floor for the doctor consult. Dr. Adorable told us that the surgery went very well, miminal blood loss and no heart issues. He also told us that they had to put her to sleep instead of giving her a spinal epidural because they couldn't get the needle in her back. She has so much arthritis in her back, compressed disks and tight muscles that they couldn't get it in. Remember this little tidbit for later in my story, ok? Dr. Adorable then tells us that mom should be out of recovery in about an hour. Ok, Dr. Goodlooking.

Two and a half hours later, still no word about my mom. I finally convince my dad to go to the waiting room desk to find out what the heck is going on. The volunteer at the desk calls up to surgery and asks about my mom. They put her nurse on the line to talk to my dad. Apparently, after surgery, she was having some trouble breathing. Then the nurse noticed that one side of my mom's mouth was drooping and she was talking with a lisp. She asks my mom if she normally has a lisp. Ahhhh, that would be negative. The nurse tells my dad that it's possible she has had a stroke, but the nurologist is on her way to assess, so we needed to sit tight. To make a long story short, after a CT scan, they deduct that she has NOT had a stroke, but for some reason, there has been some nerve damage to that area of her face. It is seen in patients having neck surgery, but the nurologist was rather puzzled since my mom didn't have neck surgery. I did not have a chance to talk with the nurologist before I had to leave, but apparently they expect the paralysis to correct itself eventually. So, it seems that for now, all is well. But it was soooo scary for a while there after they told us she might have had a stroke. It was sooo hard to see my dad break down while he told me what the nurse had just told him. He's a tough, non emotional guy, so when he was welling up, my heart broke. He was so scared.

Back to the attempt at the spinal epidural. I am wondering whether or not it's possible that there was some nerve damage done when they were attempting to get the needle in her back. I am not a nurse, but many of you out there are. Is this a possibility? Could there be nerve damage done in a spinal attempt? I am hoping to hear more about this today when I call the hospital. In the meantime, thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. For the most part, mom is doing well and was joking a bit when I left her yesterday. I think I will leave her alone to rest today (of course my dad will be with her), and hopefully will be able to stop by to see her tomorrow. She might go home as soon as Monday.

Well, so as not to leave you cardless two days in a row, I thought I'd show you this simple little card I made last weekend. It really is a favorite of mine. The sentiment is from a JustRite 2x Stamper, one of about 20 I recieved from being a finalist in the JustRite Stampin' Champion contest I was in a month ago. These are cute little stampers, but since I've written so much today, I won't elaborate on them until later this week, ok? Suffice it to say, I think I love them!

Hugs,
Amy