Jewells of Thought

Thankfully the nurse made sure to ask for my phone number especially since I was the designated driver. Later in the lobby, I heard a lady say that the nurse had forgotten to get her phone number and it made things a little complicated, but the receptionist was able to help her out in a process that would have been much easier if her number had been taken by the nurses before the procedure was started. That was a very fortunate moment that did happen for me.

One of the nurses had a specific looking phone, and I remember watching her take a call saying they were ready in the OR. That was when I started towards the lobby and Mom was sent to be administered the anesthesia. The timing in between seeing her off and seeing her come to the car seemed like a substantial time considering the doctor said 15 minutes at best a month earlier.

Like I said I headed back to the lobby, it was a cold morning and I didn’t want to wait in the car the whole time. Plus I told the nurses that’s where I would be. At this point I was a bit surprised. Usually at that time I get extraordinarily hungry and I still have not had my allergy pill yet. It was like God had taken care of me knowing what I was about to endure. I was not thinking about any kind of problem at all arising. I was certain God was in control and everything would be fine.

Honestly, I wasn’t certain I would have time to read according to Mom’s office visit weeks beforehand. Still I love to read so I brought my book anyway. I was able to finish two chapters. It was during this time that the lady came in with her adorable granddaughter saying the nurses didn’t get her phone number. By the time I was mostly finished with my second chapter I got the phone call. Call number 1 was the nurse instructing me to wait 20 minutes before I needed to park in front of the hospital. Mom was supposed to be coming out within that time frame.

Yeah it didn’t happen like that though!

After about 10 minutes of hanging up the phone I was trying to figure out how long to wait in the lobby. I decided to leave with 10 minutes to still wait in the car. I thought I needed to be in front of the hospital before she came out with at least 5 minutes to go. So I did, I thought I did well with the timing. Then it was time and I didn’t see her for another 5 minutes and then another 5 minutes. I got the second phone call somewhere during this time.

In the back of the recesses of my mind remembered she has trouble with dizziness what if that becomes a problem. Then when the nurse called me she said Mom’s knees buckled when she tried to stand. Her sugar was low as well so she was eating some peanut butter crackers. Now that made me nervous for the first time of the day.

Already some other cars were trying to park behind me. I still thought oh she’ll be out soon, but two other patients came out and I was feeling like a sitting duck. I didn’t know when she would be coming out or if she would after this phone call then others were trying to pick up their loved ones and I was in the way. One guy finally had to park in front of me since someone was behind me. The nurse didn’t say to come in or to move the car. I didn’t even think to ask. They seemed to be saying we are doing this and we’re going to try again so I kept thinking it would be soon.

I felt like I could be sweating bullets, I was so nervous, but it was cold outside and I wasn’t hot at all.

Everyone else was coming out like clockwork. Why wasn’t my Mom coming out, it nagged, at me for a half an hour. It didn’t stop there though. People kept coming and going I wasn’t able to move it was like a vehicle jam at one point. A guy was behind me another car parked in front of me and then another lady pulled almost next to me on my left side to get a passenger out. I think the guy behind me was irritated that I wasn’t moving yet, but this is also where I got the 2nd phone call. She said Mom was still eating those crackers I asked if it would be another 5 or 10 minutes, but no real answer they wanted the doctor though to see Mom before she left. I think she may have told me that at this time. I couldn’t move at this time anyway.

Then somewhere in the middle of all of the chaos I think that man that may have been irritated said something inside the receptionist came out to look at the three cars outside. There were two behind me. She remembered me and didn’t tell me to move, but I can’t remember what we said to each other. I rolled down the window, but she didn’t say anything mean or that I needed to move I simply can’t remember what she said. Only that she was nice.

I noticed there was really only one nurse bringing out the patients. So finally I decided to ask her about Mom she thought I was talking about someone else at first but then she realized who I was talking about. She then said okay stay here, you’re good I’ll tell the doctor where you are and she should be out soon after he does a checkup on her. I am paraphrasing a little bit here, being in the moment and now being a couple of days later kind of changes what I remember word for word. She did give me some semblance of peace, though.

Finally, after only about an hour and a half after I left Mom I saw the nurse bring her out to me. I got out of the car and went to her so happy to see her. The nurse then said she needed to fill me in on what the doctor said. First we got Mom in the seat and she told me to get in the car so she could talk to me through the window of the car. The procedure itself went very well. The first essential component to this procedure though is the Lidocaine. For other patients this may not have mattered, but for Mom apparently it was way too much of a dosage for her. The doctor did a check up and the pain block was working and working well in those areas. However, the Lidocaine seeped so deeply into her muscles that it affected her legs. Therefore making her knees buckle when they tried to get her up.

Fortunately it wasn’t an allergic response it was though, an adverse reaction. This was just the first procedure and there are several to come. It is good this happened now so the doctor knows to decrease the amount of the Lidocaine for the procedures to come.

The big thing though, Mom enjoyed the amazing pain-free back she had right after this procedure. She kept saying how good her back felt, even as I had to help keep her on her feet as we ate what was supposed to be our breakfast even though it was technically now dinnertime. By the time we got home she was able to walk on her own without problems, she was just thoroughly exhausted.

My goodness I could never have imagined what was going to happen would happen. Thank goodness though God saw us through it. The difference from what we thought we would experience and reality was having God surrounding us through the ordeal.