Doctors, doctors, and more doctors

Well, it seems like all my time lately has been going to

different doctors.

On October 30th mom had her surgery down in Gainesville.  Since we had to be there so early in the morning we decided to go down the night before and spend the night.  So glad we did - Friday morning there was a dense fog advisory out and the visibility was less that 1/4 of a mile.  I would have been a nervous wreck driving those back roads, before dawn, with that kind of visibility.  We were at the hospital/Women's Center at 6:45 for her 7:00 check-in.  They took her back to pre-op by 7 - did all they had to do - then she went down for a nuclear test on her lymph nodes which took about an hour.  Then it was back to pre-op to wait for her turn.  She went back to surgery right around noon.  It was close to three hours before the surgeon came to me to let me know the surgery went well.  Plan was to release her from recovery to go home - around 5.

Well, at 6 the recovery team came for me and let me know that mom was having an issue with her respiration and would sometimes "forget to take a breath". They said that they would not release her until her respiration was above 85.  At 7:30 her respiration was still low and I told them that I was not comfortable with the idea of my driving two hours home, after dark, by myself with her.  The roads between Gainesville and Dowling Park are deserted and if I had a problem there would be no where to go for help.  The recovery room team called her doctor and he gave permission for her to be admitted for one night.  So, at 10 o'clock she was finally taken to a room and I left the hospital to find a room for the night.

Silly me, I thought that I wouldn't have any issue with finding a room for the night since the University of Florida was playing an away game - WRONG!  There was a music festival going on in town and hotels were booked solid.  After going to three different hotels one young lady at the desk called around and finally was able to locate a room for me (a premium room, but at that point I didn't care) and I made it to my room around midnight.

Back to the hospital by 9 in the morning and had mom in the car and on our way home before 10:30.  She has done amazingly well - no pain medication what so ever (other than Tylenol on Saturday) and she is up and doing things around the house.  I go down and check and empty her drains, make sure she is eating, and visit a few times a day - but she wants to be on her own.  

We have been back down to Gainesville twice to have her drains checked and have some staples removed.  The doctor told us yesterday that he would probably remove one drain next Monday along with half the remaining staples and the the last drain and staples the following Monday.  He gave us information for a shop that sells post mastectomy prosthetics and bras and we will go there after her appointment next week.  She should be ready for a bra by then.

Dan and I both had doctors appointments here in the Village last week - all is well but we have been referred all over the place.  Dan has to see the cardiologist in Lake City the day before Thanksgiving and I see a gynecologist  in Gainesville in December as well as getting a mammo done in December and a bone density test in Lake City in January.  Hopefully, once all that is done we will be through with doctors for a little while at least.

We have jumped through a couple of hoops here with the bank.  Finally have all the paperwork and plans from the contractor turned in to the bank, signed the loan application - have had a quote for the homeowners insurance done, and today we had the initial appraisal done.  We are hoping to close the middle of December and get the renovations started in January.  At least, that is the hope right now.

Other than that - things have been quiet around here.