All is well

Rich had his surgery today. It was a surprisingly harrowing time for me. I've been so distracted thanks to the move that I honestly haven't had a whole lot of time to process that Rich was going to be cut open and stuff attached to his heart. That being said, I had my own little catch-up freak out in the half hour before they wheeled him in and I left. All in all, I think I did pretty well.

I managed to keep it under control while I chatted with his electrophysiologist, who would be doing the insertion and the anesthesiologist. They were both very nice and made me feel much more secure that they were capable. The electrophysiologist was pretty frank about the controvery over the situation and the debate over whether a defibrilator is really the way to go. It made me a little sad that ultimately the decision was likely made to pre-empt legal action by putting them in, even though they are likely completely over-kill. It'll be interesting to see how often Rich's actually goes off. We're theorizing that Rich will rarely, like less than once a year, have his engage. In which case, this is kind of crazy. Better safe than sorry, though, esp. where the heart is concerned. 

The surgery ran just under two hours, relatively speedy for a defibrillator insertion. I suspect it had something to do with his age and health. I was tense until I got the word that he was out of surgery. When I got the call, I was on the phone with Jotham...and then someone else called, too. I literally had three phones on with calls on them.

(context)

I just replaced my phone a few days ago and switched services. As a result, my new phone does not contain my contacts. So I don't know who is calling, and until I do, I presume that all calls are important and worth answering. Thus having three phones (the home phone, my cell phone, Rich's cell phone) on all at once.

(/contex)

I was a bit more relaxed afterwards, despite the microwave install guy and the unexpectedly-two-days-early DSL chick. But all of our appliances are now plugged in and work without leaking (I finally fixed the dishwasher with a little twirling of a crescent wrench). It's a relief to Rich that everything is working.

After all the service folks left, having successfully performed their jobs at our house, I heated up a huge chunk of lasagna that I made yesterday, made a PBJ, and cut a large slice of fruit tart and packed it all up to go. Then I picked up Drew from daycare and we went to see Rich and have dinner.

Rich wasn't allowed to eat after midnight, yesterday, so he was hungry when I left him. The nurses promised he'd be fed as soon as he was out of surgery, but my last conversation with Rich at 5, almost two hours after he'd come out of surgery, had a lot of reference to food. We figured hospital food couldn't be that good, so I packed.

My first view of Rich was actually a relief. He was pretty normal looking aside from the multitude of wires sticking out from everywhere and crossing his body on their way to the sensors. He was happy to see us and Drew is always happy to see him. I just took a deep breath and did a little check to make sure he had all his limbs and was intact. And then released.

Rich is just fine. He was finally getting to eat when we arrived. He quickly put aside the not-so-horrible rice pilaf and salmon and downed the lasagna like he hadn't seen food for days. He went all out. It was a double portion as I had expected to share, but hey, he hadn't eaten, so I let him go to town. Drew nibbled on his PBJ and got all excited about the juice and Cheetos I'd brought along. And last, but not least, the fruit tart and fresh strawberries that I'd forgotten to serve up over the weekend to our cavalry.

Drew and I left the hospital and went to Costco to pick up laundry supplies and then to the old house to get a light load of stuff. My drawers that I had ordered were waiting outside the door and between that huge box, laundry stuff and bathroom stuff, the car was full. 

I had my first look at the house post-cavalry and it's eerie how empty the house seems. There's still a lot of random stuff in the house, but it's so empty and lonely, now. It'll be good when I can get all the pieces off the floor and vacuum. It'll be almost like how I found it when I moved in...only slightly improved, what with the carpet cleaning and the renovated bathroom. 

Drew is in bed, now, pretending to try to sleep and I'm about to fall over from exhaustion. The emotional energy caught up to me along with the general physical fatigue from the move. I'm barely upright. To bed. Now.