Another bump in the road

Friday, February 21, 2014 – Longest day of my life. Scott went in for surgery. Six hours is what they said.

 

 

Kate (Scott’s mother) and I barely made it before they wheeled him from the 6^th floor to surgery. We accompanied him to the prep room. He was still eerily calm about the whole ordeal. As if, he was still in shock and denial. The only thing that was bugging him was how bright everything was. The last few days, he liked having a wet washcloth covering his eyes. He said it felt better. Otherwise, he had no complaints about any pain or nausea. Shortly before surgery, our friends, Jenny and Jose, met with us.

Scott requested they play his music in surgery. He had our Bluetooth speaker and his phone already playing country music. He kept playing “My Next Thirty Years” by Tim McGraw. I kept thinking, ‘does he not realize what he has’. I trembled in fear and cried as they were getting ready to take him back. He looked at me and said everything is going to be fine and told our friends to make me smile. He didn’t want to see me sad.

 

 

It took me a bit to regain my senses as we headed to the waiting room. We found a corner to hang out, plug in our devices, and just wait. Most of that day is a bit of a blur. I remember Tristan and Melayna stayed with my dad and his wife. I remember our older two not being able to make it through the day and my dad having to pick them up early from school (we gave them the choice of going to school to keep busy and distracted). I remember playing a board game. I remember getting cafeteria food and not eating everything. I remember my friends Dani and Tim staying with us. I remember checking the screen that listed patients in surgery by code and how long they have left in surgery. I remember talking to financial services finding out that it is unlikely we’ll qualify for Medicaid. I remember talking about books. I remember talking about kids going through that awkward phase of learning about sexuality – some of us have children going through that phase – while some of us haven’t gotten there quite yet. I remember laughing. I remember crying. I remember it being so, so long.

 

As our friends eventually began to leave, the six hour mark had passed. It wasn’t until the 8 hour mark that Scott’s surgeon came out to tell us that he did wonderfully. They’ve removed most of the tumor and are sending it to pathology. He has yet to wake up fully and they are in the process of moving him to the ICU. We could head up to the fourth floor in about thirty minutes. A big sigh of relief. One big hurdle over. Or so we thought….

 

About fifteen minutes later, his surgeon returned to deliver some not-so-good news. As Scott was beginning to wake up, the noticed that his left side was not moving and not responding to stimuli. Something went wrong. They were taking him for a CT scan to find out what had happened.

 

Another hour and a half goes by when we are finally able to go see him. We collect our things and head up to the fourth floor. Anxious to see my husband, I really didn’t know what to expect.