For those of you to whom the phone tree did not extend (and my apologies for the delay in contact to those whom I did reach), Andrew had his back surgery today and is back at home resting comfortably. In medical speak this means that he’s currently stoned out of his gourd on Percoset, but recovering normally nonetheless.

It’s been an eventful week. I started coming down with some sort of upper respiratory crud on Monday morning, by Tuesday afternoon I was dizzy and nauseated and by Tuesday evening I was in our local ER being pumped full of lactated Ringer’s solution, Compazine, and Toradol. I most decidedly did NOT go to work on Wednesday.

This morning we got up at 0630, left the house at 0715 and didn’t get to Kirkland until 0830 (*&^%$#*&!!!!! interstate 405!).
Andrew hit the decks in the surgical prep ward at about 0945 but since they were very space constrained I didn’t get to go with him so I sat, fumed, and cast what is turning out to be a remarkably ugly cat blanket on to my circular knitting needles. When they finally let me go and sit with him we were both in a tizzy, him a little more so because he was freezing to death and his blood glucose was low.
When they took him to surgery a little before 1100 the surgeon told me they’d take 3-4 hours. And so I sat. And knit, and listened to books on tape, and the Brandenburg Concertos, and suffered probably nearly fatal daytime TV toxicity.

When the surgeon finally reappeared at 1530 to give me a progress report he told me that Andrew was in recovery and I’d be able to see him in about an hour.
At 1700 I went to bug the candystriper at the volunteer desk. She called the recovery room and relayed to me that Andrew was taking a little longer to recover from the anesthetic than was expected and it’d be at least another half an hour. They’d call me or someone would come and get me.
Do you know how fast I can knit when I’m properly stimulated? Pretty dang fast.

So I watched the local news and then the NBC nightly news and then I went to bug the candystriper again. At least another 15-20 minutes came the reply.
Bugger.

Couldn’t concentrate on my book, couldn’t stomach anymore television, really tired of knitting. AHA! Finally someone in surgical blues coming out to talk to me.
The recovery nurse told me that Andrew was doing well but was dizzy and somewhat nauseated. They were going to have to give him at least another half an hour to rest before they’d get him up, why didn’t I go and pick up his pain meds?
Right.
Load up the bag with my books and my knitting, my purse, and the bag that Andrew insisted on bringing with him that contained his Dell laptop, his new data enabled cell phone and God knows what all else, and traipse halfway across the building. How much time did it take me? 10 freakin’ minutes.
Double bugger.

Got back, sat down, and was knitting with a vengance again (it really is a remarkably ugly cat blanket, but Scrum loves the texture of knitted things) when the surgical nurse came back to tell me they’d finally managed to get Andrew up and walking.
So nearly 8 hours later I finally got to rejoin my husband and I sat and knit some more while he came around completely.

Remarkably the trip home was uneventful. There wasn’t any traffic, I managed to drive Andrew’s car for an entire day and remember that it’s an automatic so I don’t have to stomp on the clutch, and Andrew managed to get himself up the stairs without tripping over the cat.
So the next 3 days are going to be pretty laid back chez us. I’m going to cook up a storm so that we have plenty of dinners in the freezer that Andrew doesn’t have to cook. I’m also going to sleep in, drink ginger tea and (ergh) Gatorade and hope that my nose stops running. Andrew is going to rest, take his pain pills, drink plenty of water, and rest in that order. Neither of us is going to think much, neither of us is going to exert much, and we may or may not answer the phone depending on how troll-ish we’re feeling (sorry Joe, no brain picking about security cameras this weekend). If we get to feeling really intellectual we may watch some more of Season 2 of The Muppet Show.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and for the offers of help. Just don’t be surprised if you don’t hear much from us over the weekend.