8/19/14. The post where we get through surgery #1.

8/19/14: we were awakened by an early morning phone call from the hospital with good news - the surgeon's first surgery cancelled and they wanted us to come in an hour early.  Don't mind if we do!

We got to the hospital and checked in.  Even with a cancellation, it was a long wait and they did not take my patient, long-suffering husband to the operating room until 1:00 pm.  The nurse said it would be two hours before I saw him again and suggested I get some lunch.  The hospital was very near the campus where I went to law school many years ago and I decided to check out a restaurant I used to frequent to see if it was still around.

Not only was it still around, it did not appear to have changed at all, with the possible exception of a new coat of paint on the walls.  I remembered it being a dive way back then and time had not made it any less so.  I started to wonder if eating there was a good idea.  (Apparently I was less picky all those years ago.)  I needn't have worried.  The food was as fresh and delicious as I remembered.  It was also a nice little distraction.  

I returned to the hospital and almost immediately got a call from the surgeon saying he was finished with the procedure and it was successful. Woo-hoo!  It was another hour before they took him to a post-op room and let me see him.  He was still pretty loopy from the anesthesia, but otherwise seemed to have come through it just fine.  We spent about two and a half more hours in the post-op room while he came out of the anesthesia, ate some crackers, and drank some water.  As soon as he checked off all the required activities for release, they let me take him home.

I poured him into bed and made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up his prescription and a couple of other items requested by the patient.  He spent the much of the evening drifting in and out of sleep while I watched a baseball game, but managed to get on the phone and talk business with a colleague before I could stop him.  Because that's how he rolls.  It will be awhile before we know for sure if the surgery did the trick, but so far, all signs are good.

My foot did not cooperate at all today.  I started the morning at a 7 and spent the whole day in the 7-8 range.  I put on socks and sneakers this morning in anticipation of spending the day in sub-Arctic temperatures at the hospital, and that really sent my foot into a tirade.  When I got home this evening and took off my socks, all of my toes were beet red, except for one that was completely devoid of color.  That scared me a little, but it wasn't numb or tingly, and the color came back soon after I walked around for awhile in bare feet.  

I think my foot was acting like a petulant child, hoping for attention.  Well, guess what? It's not going to get any.  I don't intend to reward that kind of behavior.  I know that CRPS can be triggered by stress and I suppose it was a stressful day.  It could be much worse.  There are people with advanced cases that are triggered by loud noises or flashing lights.  One of the reasons it is so important to get it under control early.  We have surgery #1 under our belts.  Now I have two and a half weeks to help my patient, long-suffering husband recuperate so he can help me get through surgery #2.  In sickness and in health...