Surgery Update

We dropped Little Man off with Grammy at 10:00am (Ladybug doesn't like to be too far away from her food source, so she tagged along), then headed to the hospital. I had Kohl's cash, so the hubs was a trooper and stopped there first. I can not let $30 go to waste. We got to the hospital, Ladybug in tow, at 11:00. We were a little early, so I decided to feed her in the car. Halfway through I looked out my window and saw the security camera aimed right at me. I'm so glad I decided not to be too discreet - when I show up on the internet, bare breast exposed, you'll know it's because I had no idea we parked under a camera.

Upon check in, we asked what we were supposed to do next. We found out we had a hour and a half wait for nuclear medicine. Yikes - that's a lot of time to kill in a hospital. I had lunch; the hubs couldn't eat anything. Part way through, Grandpa showed up and took over Ladybug duty. He got in all the Ladybug love he could yesterday.

At 1:00 the Hubs had the nuclear medicine injected in to the site of the melanoma. Apparently it was 4 injections of fire. They don't numb the area or sedate for this procedure, but I have come to the conclusion they should provide Valium at the very least.

Immediately following, we head up to surgery again. It's there we find out that they were expecting him there much earlier. What that means is the hour and a half we were trying to kill was for no reason at all. The took him in immediately and prepped him for surgery. I sat with him through most of it. He was pretty nervous, but everyone around was very friendly - that eased his nerves a bit. When it came time for the IV, he went as white as a sheet. He's not so good with needles - he mentally breaks down and then his veins collapse. It took the nurse about 10 minutes to finally get the IV in there and going. The nurse on the "sleep team" gave him something to relax him following the IV episode, so all was well again. Following that, I asked the nurse on the "sleep team" if he could come home with me and work with Ladybug in the middle of the night. Anyone that calls himself part of a "sleep team" must be a sleep expert!

He was wheeled away from me, then I started a little bit of a panic. I think I watch too much television - people going under the knife for simple surgeries and tragedy strikes. I have a vivid imagination when I let my mind wander. I snapped myself back into it and went to find Grandpa and Ladybug cruising the halls trying to get a nap.

The surgery started at 2:36. The doctor came out to see me about an hour later. She said he did very well and was hopeful that there wasn't any cancer in the lymph nodes she removed. She said the nodes are usually black when they are removed. His were not black, but, she cautioned, they need to be looked at under a microscope to be sure. She was very positive about it, so that eased my mind slightly. Obviously, I will not rest until the results come back.

We were home by 6:30. The hubs spent the evening on the couch in and out of sleep. He finally went to bed at about 9:30 and tossed and turned most of the night.