As my mom told me this morning, "It's not Valentine's Day anymore! Update your blog!" Since I am such an obedient daughter (the most obedient daughter she has), I thought I would update my blog. I will tell you all about my fun-filled (?) trip to San Diego, CA.
I flew to San Diego on a Thursday night (the night before my dad's big surgery). I arrived in a bit of rain. My mom picked me up at the airport since my dad was undergoing the process of "preparing" for the surgery (i.e. clearing out the old digestive system). My mom and I enjoyed clam chowder in a bread bowl from Boudin's. (I don't think we could have been more California than that!) We enjoyed catching up. Then we all went to bed early since the next day would start before the sun woke up.
Friday morning arrived very early with two different alarm clocks going off around 4:45 AM (I think). My parents got ready for the day while I moved from sleeping on the couch to an actual bed. My parents left for the hospital and I received a few more hours of much needed beauty sleep! While my dad's surgery was delayed a few hours, I helped myself to the hotel's breakfast buffet and then repented for an hour on the treadmill! :) My mom finally came back to the hotel for me around 11 AM after my dad had finally been wheeled into surgery. We packed up our "activity bag" and headed to the hospital.
What do you do for eight and a half hours in the hospital when you are not the one being operated on? Oh the possibilities are endless. One of my favorite activities was watching people try go into a bathroom whose door was locked. I then enjoyed watching about three different maintenance people try to find a key that would unlock it. My guess was that there was a patient that fell off the toilet in there just waiting to be rescued. (I have had experience falling off a toilet and being locked in a bathroom but I will have to save those stories for another time.) After quite a while, the door to the bathroom was finally opened and much to my disappointment there wasn't anyone stuck in there. It was empty. Another activity I enjoyed while waiting in the hospital was watching people in scrubs carry walkers around the hospital. These were not patients walking with the walkers, mind you. It was personnel CARRYING walkers. If I got paid for every person I saw carrying a walker, I could have paid for my dad's surgery. (I later found out that the people carrying the walkers were physical therapists. THe PTs were taking the walkers to patients so they could get up and walking after their surgeries.) My time was also spent reading, knitting, and checking my email.
My dad was a real trooper and made it through the surgery. Most of the cancer was removed along with some organs that he didn't really need (spleen, appendix, and 2 feet of the colon). No need to carry around extra weight, I always say! He lost about 40 pounds just from all that was removed from his body (mucous, fat). He has lost another 10 pounds since the surgery since he's not really eating that much. (He lost the equivalent of a whole Melodie!) He received 9 units of California's best Grade A blood. He is a true Californian now. If he starts talking like a surfer dude, we will know why. The doctor was very pleased with how the surgery went. If the doctor is pleased, then we are pleased.
Saturday morning my mom and I slept in. (But if you talk to my dad, we were there bright and early as soon as they would allow visitors in the room. He was heavily medicated so he doesn't really remember anything.) He was quite groggy and talked really quietly. I kept saying, "What? Speak up! I can't hear you!" As a result of him talking so softly, I think my mom and I overcompensated by yelling back to him. Oh well! He kept asking anyone and everyone for a popsicle. He wasn't allowed to have a popsicle because the digestive system (that had been recently manhandled) couldn't handle anything in it for a while. He couldn't have anything to eat until he farted! That didn't stop him from asking nurses, doctors, me and mom, the guy sweeping the floor, etc for a popsicle.
We ditched dad for a little while and performed a session at the San Diego Temple. We got in a Spanish session so we had to use the gift of tongues (the headset) so we could understand what was going on. It was very entertaining for me! The San Diego Temple is so BEAUTIFUL inside and out (just like me!)!! The only word that describes it is WOW!!! I wanted to go back a ton more times. (Too bad they were closed the remaining days I was there-Sunday and Monday.)
We went back and visited Dad that afternoon at the hospital. We broke some rules and were kindly rebuked by the nurse. I enjoyed watching the monitor of dad's blood pressure and heartbeat. It was like watching TV. Nothing like saying something to someone and immediately see their inner reaction!
Sunday was spent visiting with Dad. We bailed on him for a little over an hour and went to church. Sunday evening Mom and I drove to San CLemente (about halfway between LA and San Diego) to meet my friend Matt. Matt lives in LA and we have done the Christmas Spectacular together in Nashville for the past three years. It was great to spend a few hours talking with him. He is one of my favorite people to just hang out with.
We drove back to the hospital and spent a short amount of time with dad. We asked if we could turn on the TV in his room and he told us no and to go home. So we did. We wondered who the man was that had taken over my dad's body. Usually it's us asking him to turn off the TV! He is the king of TV at our house.
Monday morning my mom and I got up bright and early and headed to the hospital. I had a 10 AM flight to catch so I had to say our goodbyes before we were all fully awake. When I left San Diego, it was blue sky, warm, and sunny. My mom said that as soon as I left the rain departed with me. The sun came out and it has been beautiful ever since (just about).
I am enjoying my last few days of absolute freedom before my parents return. I am actually looking forward to having someone to talk to (but don't tell them). I can only talk to myself for so long and it so one-sided. Not a lot of "discussion" going on. Anyway, Thanks to all of you for your kind thoughts, love, support, prayers, and friendship. Like a good friend told me at the beginning of this "Dad has cancer" journey, you certainly find out who your friends are when you got through something difficult! Thanks for taking the journey with me!
