He Chose Me!

I’m sitting here in Lynn’s hospital room with my warm sweatshirt on thinking I should have brought ear muffs.    This is night two after his 2nd total knee replacement.     Lynn had a pretty high fever for a long time last  night … I think they said 104 degrees once it was translated froimagem 39.something into English.   Although he was shivering and his teeth were chatting (actually they were chattering pardon my typo) he spent the a good while with ice packs under his arms and behind his neck until they got the fever to break.    Ever the jokester he quipped that the thing that got the fever lowered was him worrying about where they were going to tuck the next pack of ice.  His fever broke some time after midnight (just almost exactly the moment the nurse got the doctor up to ask him what they should do next) and it hasn’t spiked again since, but I think the room is being kept cold as a friendly reminder of things to come if he thinks he can get away with it again tonight.

IMG_0551[1] Right now he’s sleeping like a baby (sorry Fairbourn’s … not like your baby apparently).    Considering what the man has been through the last twenty four hours, I think he’s entitled!

So what I’m trying to do is decide if I’m going to be needed here tonight.  To be or not to be. I asked Lynn earlier what I should do and he was really wishy washy, sort of like he is when I ask him where we should go out to eat.   Why he’d worry about that I don’t know since it’s obvious I like to eat any where and any time.    However, tonight I’m torn  because even though it appears he won’t need me, I want to be here “in case” he needs me.   He wants me “to be comfortable and where I will do the least amount of worrying”.  The problem is those two things aren’t on the same side of the fence.

Here is a sample of why I worry:   This morning Lynn was absolutely fine and was joshing with me while he sat in the chair at the side of his bed, but the minute I slipped into the bathroom he suddenly needed me quick.    I heard him call so I hurried to wash my hands quick and get out to him.   Iimage couldn’t have been gone 90 seconds.     When I glanced at him from across the room he looked like he was asleep with his head hanging to one side but when I got closer  I saw his eyes were glazed over and vacant, and he wasn’t moving.

“Lynn!” I said in a panic, “Are you okay?”   No response at all.   “LYNN!   ARE YOU OKAY?” I asked loudly as I noted his color was grayish/whitish.   I grabbed his arm, which was ice cold, and yelled out again as I reached for the call button.   I thought he was dead or had suffered a stroke and my heart literally jumped into my throat.    “LYNN!”  I shouted as I shook his arm and an aide came running into the room.    This time he opened his eyes and looked at me in a dazed stupor.    “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” I asked for the fourth or fifth or sixth time.    By then nurses were coming in a rush and they took over.       He started to respond to them when suddenly he was gone again.      His blood pressure was 55/30 and his oxygen level was below 60.    It had gone from a normal blood pressure and oxygen level to that low in just the minute I was in the bathroom.

They lowered the back of his chair and raised his feet and gradually over the next half hour they got his blood pressure and oxygen up to safer levels before they started slowly raising his head again so they could get him stabilized enough to put him in bed.     They explained to me that this type of thing isn’t unusual after major surgery but it’s important to get the levels up quickly.   It felt unusual to me as I sat over on the sofa  trying to get my blood pressure and heart beat back down wiping away tears so Lynn wouldn’t see them and worry about me.

The rest of the day went much better … much, much better.   He did his afternoon physical therapy and ate his meals and cracked his dumb jokes and I have been very grateful for him.  I even laughed at the dumb jokes, some of which were funny.

There was one other highlight of the day, which neither Lynn or I realized was going to be a highlight.  After having an IV pushing liquids into him all day and everyone else pushing liquids at him all day, he practically filled his urinal to the top.   When the nurses came in and saw it. they clapped and cheered.      It turns out the reason for the standing ovation was that they were ready to catheterize him and were really happy they didn’t have to after all he’d been through.   He was rather chagrined by it for a moment until he remembered that when our doggy pee’s where she should pee she gets a treat.

Oh, and there was one more highlight of sorts … for me at least.    It came time to get him dressed for therapy this afternoon and two cute nurses came in to help him.   They said if he preferred, he could have me help him instead.    He chose me!

You can see why I’ve been torn as to whether I should go home or stay, but now it’s no longer a question.   Just reminding myself of all  he’s gone through in the last 24 hours was enough to tip the scale.   I’m staying.  Even though he has received top notch care from everyone involved,  I need to stay here because he hates to bother people and I’m good at it.  Everybody knows that.

8 Responses to “He Chose Me!”

  1. Just read your blog. Didn’t realize he was having the second operation so soon. It will be nice in a few months when he’s recuperated and back to normal. You’re a good nurse, Edna. We’ll keep you both in our prayers. Love you both.

  2. I just commented to Nancy today (before I logged on) about you and Lynn… wondering.
    Thanks for the update – although very scary.
    You made the right decision to stay! You proved that with his BP and O2 drop. Plus just having an advocate and “mouth” when needed is critical.
    So sorry you and Lynn are having such a bad time.
    And re: Phyllis’s comment: don’t get your hopes up that it will be a “few” months. I’m 5 months into my recovery and there still is pain and suffering. (Not trying to be a bummer, just my experience, I sure hope Lynn’s is different!) :)

  3. We’re not having too many problems … I might have made it sound worse than it is. Since the scary thing happened yesterday morning he has been much, much better. The pain in his right leg seems to be worse than he remembered the left leg is and it isn’t doing quite as well in physical therapy but it is only the 3rd day so there is time for it to shape up! Fortunately one thing we have plenty of is time … we hope!

  4. I’m glad Lynn is doing better. This reminds me of when I had surgery and when they returned me to my room, Doug was going to go out to the car. He didn’t, and it’s a good thing – I stopped breathing, and no one would have noticed. He tells me it took a while for them to bring me back around.
    Here’s to a great recovery.

  5. In 2008 my father was hospitalized a couple of times. It had been a while since a member of my family had been in the hospital, with the exception of having babies, so I soon learned that some things have changed. Hospitals used to discourage you from spending the night with patients. Now they encourage you. They appreciate having a family member in the room 90% of the time (yes, we do have to eat and go to the bathroom). They made us quite comfortable on the couch, brought us bedding, etc. And it was a good thing they did, as my father, who was 92 at the time, soon proved that he could climb over those bed rails when he needed to go to the bathroom!

  6. Oh goodness, those are scary things! Here’s hoping everything else goes smoothly! and you get some rest too! :)

  7. Did you ever once for even the slightest moment think he wouldn’t pick you? :)

    Adorable picture.

  8. Oh my goodness, Edna. You and Lynn have been going through your own purgatory, haven’t you? This must have been so hard on both of you! You can see I’m late in getting here but have been awake much of the night and finally decided to get up and catch up on a few of my blogger friends. Give my best to your hubby–that wise man who chose you!–and take care of yourself, too. And thanks for taking the time to come by and support me emotionally too these last days! In the end, I’m sure we’ll all come out just fine! …one of these days!!!!

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