And Now We Wait

Samantha, Sam, Sam-What-Am, Sammykins, SweetPea, Trouble

The operation is over and he is home. The doctor reiterated that the tumor was very, very large and though he is optimistic, it is very, very large. We will see him next Tuesday for the results of the biopsy. We hope it's not invasive but are taking this as it comes - one day at a time for us too.

Yesterday was a long day. We were at the hospital before noon and I wasn't back home until around 7:30pm, feeling totally drained. Didn't feel like doing much of anything. His doctor came to me after the surgery with a blunt assessment of how things went. A woman in the waiting area overheard the conversation and when he left she identified herself as a trauma nurse with another hospital. She said she was impressed with the doctor because of his directness and she thought it sounded pretty good for husband.

Checking out of the hospital today was an exercise in patience and frustration. The doctor wanted me there early (8:00am) so he could go over things with both of us. He signed discharge papers at 8:30 though we didn't get out of there until 11:00. He didn't want us to leave until a nurse showed us how to use the catheter that hubby will need to wear until Tuesday. I made five trips to the nursing station - asking politely, asking with a sense of frustration, asking with an edge to my voice, insisting, and then pleading for a nurse to assist us. I was ready to bribe but finally we got help. The nurse assigned to us was new and somehow misplaced our papers. He apologized profusely, gave us our catheter lessons, asked for some help processing the papers and then we were on our way.

The catheter isn't as bad as I thought it would be but then again I'm not the one using it. Doctor said husband would be ultra-irritable for a few days but so far he is just happy to be home. And we're happy he is too.