Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 -- 'Twas the Night Before Surgery

... and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a miniature schnauzer who normally lives here :)

(I put the following note up on Facebook for friends and, since it is so late, I have just copy and pasted it here in the blog) :)

Yes, it's true... I think all things are now organized and I'm ready to go. It is one extremely warm evening here in my apartment in the West End. Even though the outside air has cooled down once the sun went down, the inside air in the apartment is still up in the 80Fs!! Meanwhile, I had all these Suzy Domestic chores to do today so that when I come home from the hospital, I won't be looking at a messy apartment ;) Not to mention, I probably won't be able to do too much in the way of any housework for awhile... and I refuse to ask friends if they'd do my housework when it is so hot outside and in the apartment :) Besides.... my upstairs neighbour, Scott, may have found us a new housecleaner... she, apparently, comes highly recommended so I may not have to worry about doing housework per se :)

So, yes, Bridget left this evening with Joan. She is going to stay with Joan for the next couple of days until I come home. Hahaha... tonight, Bridget went to another friends' place and they were having a mini-get together/deck party... so Bridget's social life seems to be exceeding mine at the moment!! :D I'm not at all worried about Bridget because she is in excellent hands! Not only is Joan a very, very good friend, she is also Bridget's vet ;)

So, the big day is tomorrow!! This is the day that they are going to be removing my right adrenal gland that has the malignant tumour on it. The gland is small, but it is in a very awkward place to get at... so we won't know until I'm actually on the table as to whether the surgeon will be able to remove it laproscopically (which is the plan) or if it will have to be the more traditional, invasive type surgery with a larger cut.

My dear friend, Steve Oben, is once again going to be my hero :) He will be picking me up at 9:30am tomorrow to drive me to the hospital. This surgery and the next one both will be done at VGH hospital (not St. Paul's which is where I normally would go to). Steve will be staying with me while I get admitted and prepped for surgery with an IV, etc. Once they wheel me away to the operating room, Steve will go home and go about his business. Once the surgery is over, the surgeon will call Steve and let him know how the surgery went. Steve will call Dad and Dad will let Melinda know... and Melinda will update this blog with an update entry. If anyone wants to find out before the blog is updated, then feel free to call Steve (604-862-0044) in the late afternoon. We figure I will be out of surgery by then and the surgeon will have called him.

Steve will be coming back to the hospital once he knows I"ll be out of the recovery room. I'm not sure how coherent or awake I'll be tomorrow night, but Steve will let me know . I'll be in the hospital for 2 nights if the surgery is laporoscopic... a few more if it becomes the big surgery.

Meanwhile... I had to stop any food intake and only drink clear fluids, starting at 1pm. It's now almost midnight and I have to admit... I'm HUNGRY!! :D But hey, a few hunger pangs, even strong ones, are better than eating and then being sick after the surgery because of the anesthetic. Ewwww!! Naaa, I'd rather starve :)

Sooooo... wish me luck!! And if all goes according to plan, I should be home and on the mend starting Wednesday :)

Cheryl

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OK! I'm with you in spirit, my Dear. By now you are in NGH and getting ready (it's 11:45 am). I told my Dad you were going in this morning. There are candles lit all over the house. He's big into prayer. I know you aren't but just know that I'm thinking of you VERY hard. Love, Susan S. (Issaquah)