Joe + Outpatient Surgery = More Fun Than Humans Oughta Have

Nothing seems to be simple with Joe anymore when it comes to his health. He went in for his outpatient surgery last Wednesday to insert a catheter in preparation for his dialysis. It was supposed to be an uncomplicated surgery and I had fully expected to be back at work sometime after lunch. He was going to stay at Mom and Dad's and rest until I came back for him. Yeah, right.

We were supposed to be registered at the Outpatient Clinic by 8:30 a.m. We arrived on time and waited and waited and Joe was finally called back to begin his preparations. I was told I'd see him again in about 45 minutes. Yeah, right. Luckily for me I had someone to keep me company for awhile. Tiffany Stewart, a friend of mine who I worked with in Valdosta, came and spent some time with me catching up on anything and everything. When she left, I got to spend some time with one of my old daycare moms.

When I finally got to see Joe, He was prepped and ready for surgery complete with a happy pill to make him wander off into la-la land. He had enough strength and clarity of mind though to throw me a kiss. However, after attempting to have continuous, understandable conversation, he finally gave into the drugs. Yeah!!

Finally it was time for him to be wheeled off for his operation and off he went.

Some four hours later he returned looking like: (1) the newest member of the Teletubbies; or (2) someone imitating a butterfly cocoon. Actually he looks snug as a bug in a rug, huh?

After a couple of hours, it was time to make his break...

After finally making it home after picking up a medication for Joe, changing sheets and fixing dinner, I finally got Joe in bed about 7:00 p.m. When I went to check on him about 10:30, I discovered that he'd "sprung" a leak around his incision and was spurting blood. Needless to say, I wound up taking him to the emergency room. We finally arrived back at home around 1:30 a.m. after some incision repair and finally made it into bed around 2:00 a.m. Waahoo! So much for routine outpatient and making it back to work. But, thus far all is going as well as expected for someone with a 3 inch incision below his navel.

(Don't you know that Joe just loves having these pictures made of him? That'll teach him to be high on hospital drugs and not know what's happening around him, huh)?