babybloomr

Dang, it’s nice to be home.

Even though it is a little bit of a mess– and by ‘little bit,’ I mean a laundry baskets overflowing/unpacked suitcases/piles of mail everywhere/refrigerator in desperate need of cleaning out because something smells like a giant orange has gone REALLY bad in there kind of a mess. But did I wake up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and dedicate my time and energy into restoring order to my lovely home? Uh, no. I pretty much ran some errands and frittered the day away, which was apparently just what the doctor ordered because right now I’m sitting here all piled up in my bed with a People magazine and a plate full of Chinese take-out feeling very relaxed and happy.

I did manage to do one productive thing today, which was to go get some groceries. And that brings us to the True Confessions portion of this blog post. (I sincerely hope you will all still respect me in the morning.) OK, here it is: I just love to spend an inordinate amount of time mindlessly wandering around Walmart! There, I said it. It’s totally true–I can kill two hours without even breaking a sweat, aimlessly pushing my cart up and down the aisles, idly picking up random things, turning them over in my hand, setting them back down… Perusing the new make-up displays … Walking through the garden department, wondering if I need any more basil plants… Checking out the doggy dresses, then realizing what I’m doing and hoping nobody saw me… You know, that kind of thing. By the time I make it over to the grocery section I’ve pretty much covered most of the store, including the auto department and the As Seen On TV aisle! I’m not an impulse buyer, about 95% of what I see are things I will never, ever actually purchase, but that doesn’t stop me from looking. I have no idea why this is so relaxing to me, but honestly, by the time I finally wheel my cart filled with white plastic bags out into the parking lot (and inevitably forget where I was parked), I am usually smiling and maybe even possibly humming to myself.

I know, I know. It’s embarrassing. Almost everyone I know hates Walmart, either because they are ethically and philosophically opposed to it’s very existence, or because they would rather have dental surgery than try to navigate their way around that giant, crowded hell-hole of a big box store. What can I tell you, I’m easily entertained. Actually I almost have the same feeling about Target, but Target feels ever-so-slightly more upscale and lacks some of Walmart’s essential ingredients like the trademark smell of burnt rotisserie chicken and perm solution. Also, Target has a Starbucks and most of the checkout people still have most of their teeth, and… I don’t know. It’s just not the same.

Well, now that I’ve outed myself, I’m asking YOU to come clean– what’s your guilty pleasure? What mindless activity do you do to chill out? I’d love to hear about it, and obviously I won’t be able to look down my nose at you. Unless you do something really weird like street mime or kitten juggling. Then I might snicker a little.

First of all, let me just say that all of the prayers, love and positive mojo being sent our way have not only been very much appreciated, but apparently VERY EFFECTIVE because Daddy is doing really well! I can’t thank you enough, and I mean that.

The surgery went exactly as we hoped– no complications, Daddy’s blood pressure held steady and he came out of the anesthesia like a champ. There aren’t enough positive adjectives to describe his surgeon, the renowned Dr. James Suen (Google him- I’m not even kidding about the renowned part) who has been unbelievably kind, professionally thorough and remarkably accessible. We were blessed to get him, and it is a great relief to know that Dad is in such good hands.

The whole thing took a little over three hours. A sizeable amount of Daddy’s scalp was removed and there were two skin grafts  taken from his thigh to replace it. His head was shaved (we have a little baggie filled with fluffy white hair– hey, if anybody out there has any custom hairpiece connections, hook me up, OK?) and he has a big ol’ puffy pressure bandage sitting slightly askew on his right side, beret-style. One eye is slightly puffy because there are stitches about an inch or two away from it. He kind of looks like a bald, drunk Frenchman. But in a good way.

He is continuing to surprise every medical person he comes in contact with because nobody can believe he is 93– one nurse actually left the room to go double-check his chart. God bless Mom and her endless nagging unflagging dedication to making sure Daddy eats healthy foods and stays active! His remarkable constitution is irrefutable proof that her diligence has truly paid off in spades. Dr. Suen checked him this morning, and the dressing on his skin graft has been changed with minimal discomfort. He is alert, eating a little bit, and has already walked the entire length of the hallway today, his IV pole and physical therapist in tow. He could probably go home later on this afternoon if he really wanted to, but he didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night so we would all feel better if he spent one more night here in the hospital.

I stayed here last night too, sleeping on a fold-out bed about five feet away from him. I have to head back to Nashville tomorrow, and since Carolyn, Liz and Jonathan will all be pitching in around the clock, this was my chance to do a ‘shift.’ I settled in with my laptop, two books, a handy-dandy reading light and my own pillow– this is not my first time at the rodeo, folks. I tried my best not to hover, but it wasn’t easy. Every time he sighed or shifted slightly, I came to attention like a hunting dog on point–“Everything OK, Daddy?” He had these weird blood pressure cuff-type things on his legs to help prevent blood clots that rather noisily inflated and deflated at regular intervals, which also made me a little jumpy. Add to that the fact that I had to remember to completely unhook those things AND lower the sides of his bed AND unplug his IV machine every time he needed to go to the bathroom (which happened hourly, by the way– removing a catheter apparently really wreaks havoc on a guy), and you will understand why neither one of us got a whole lot of sleep last night. Also? Truth be told, I wasn’t really very good at that whole remembering and unplugging thing. I didn’t almost kill him or anything, but there were a few mad dashes out into the hallway to find a nurse in the middle of the night (seriously– why in the world would they make that inflatable cuff thing so ridiculously hard to unplug??) and at one point I do remember Daddy sweetly murmuring something about hoping I wasn’t planning on giving up my day job. So I guess as a nurse, I’m a really good… blogger.

I’ll leave you with few snapshots from the last couple of days. Here’s a picture of my parents in the waiting room, about 10 minutes before they took Daddy in to surgery:

And here are two shots from our very precious (in the very fullest sense of the word) baptism service: