She's home!! Whoo hoo!!

Thanks to pain and LOTS of meds (and the fact we got to the E.R. at just after midnight), wifey pretty much lost complete track of time during her 39 1/2 hours at the Gall Bladder Hotel. My same period of time? Kinda just felt like the clock was "suspended" momentarily.

Give me just a moment. Hum amongst yourselves.......

la, la, la, la......

.....okay. I made six trips between home and hospital in the 39 1/2 hours. By trip four I was taking variant routes for variety's sake, I guess. :)

Went back last night and found out she got into surgery late, so, instead of seeing her at 9:30 or 10, it was 11:40. :(

Oh, well. I enriched my life by reading the newspaper and listening/watching to the sensational very psuedo-journalistic shows of "Headline Prime". Do you remember when "Headline News" was, well, "Headline News"?? Prime time meant Lynne Russell, all the news you need, every 30 minutes.

Now? We got to hear Nancy Grace interview like, eight different guests at once about the poor pregnant Marine story.....the part we got to hear about, though, was how, apparently, the Marine on the run had a BBQ on Christmas Day with his buddies and......I just realized I was repeating psuedo-journalism.

Sorry.

Then, bring on Britney shopping at Rite Aid in Hollywood at 1am and "Gasp!", she was seen by them picturetakers in the same aisle as pregnancy tests!!! Well, here come more "expert" guests to discuss this latest event.....when we could be exposing governmental fault or be getting an update on the devastation in Darfur, but never mind that inconsequential stuff.......

Anyway, I fully expected wifey to be "looped out" again, and was shocked to walk in and she's wide awake, talking to her "roomy" (they got along REALLY well!!), watching Letterman. Awesome! Sanity on television!!!

Hung out for about 25 minutes, then home.

When Robbie woke me up at 6:57am, and Rachel was still out, you don't know how close I came to telling them, "how about we tank school today"? It was good I didn't. It was good for them to be at school per normal, because instead of noon, wifey didn't get home and attacked by Harry J until 4pm. That's why I had trip six! I came home, got Rachel off the bus, and back we went. :) :)

You should see the wall next to mommy's recliner. Two big signs saying, "Welcome home Mommy; we love you" and cards and a placard, all made by Rachel! Her best friend at school even wanted to sign a card!

Another friend asked Rachel, "Does this mean your mom can't pee??"

Dad also got one, saying thanks for helping mom, in triple fold, no less. She needs to go ahead and apply at Hallmark for 2013 Christmas season. That is, if she's still not working at PetSmart or Petco.

So, we're all home tonight, the kids are in Robbie's room watching Smackdown!, and wifey had chicken and her 1/2 fat Edy's Ice Cream, just like any other night.

Ah, most any other night.

The moral of our story? Our family now has less gall. But I doubt we offend fewer people. :)

Oh, the unmitigated gall!! Bladder!!

Whoa.

So, wifey's pains the past several evenings were not LapBand related after all. We (well, she) found out the hard way last night when abdominal pains significantly worsened and throwing up commenced with no end in sight.

Throwing up having the LapBand is a scary proposition, not wanting anything to shift and/or break.

It started at 11pm, we left for ER at midnight; they (being Bon Secours St. Marys) were wonderful; having her registered and back for x-ray in 45 minutes, which, for anyone who's been in an ER setting lately in Richmond, especially late night, is pretty Providential!

To Room 12 we go for the rest of the night; wifey gets medicine for pain and nausea and neither work. I learn this evening in talking to her she remembers little about the night, so in retrospect at least the first round of drugs induced memory loss.

"You don't want to remember last night.", I told her.

Ultrasound reveals the culprit: gallstones, and the doctor's decision is, best to get the gall bladder out.

Another round of "more powerful" meds, and she finally overcomes nausea, severe pain, and the nightly routine of her legs aching and goes night-night around 4am.

I step out to check on the dreaded forecast to see if we were going to get four or five snowflakes. Back to the room, discussions with nurse and doc on call, and I head for home at 5:45, so wifey's aunt can go home (bless her heart, she came out at midnight to come sleep here while the kids slept).

Both kids (highly unusual) were already awake at 6:10 and I get to explain to them where mom and dad spent the night (sadly, it was NOT at the Hilton in a jacuzzi!)

We watched TV while getting ready, making sure school was a go, and it was. First trip, Rachel; second trip, Robbie, then right back to St. Mary's, where wifey's youngest sister was there! She and I stayed 'til 9:30, then she had to work and I came home to nap, since wifey was, well, in some serious "la-la-land".

I was most jealous, because I barely slept; by 130 I gave up, got up, washed clothes, et al, et al, saw Rachel get home and go over to a friend's house while I headed back to the hospital for round 3.

She was (yay!) in a room shortly after I left in the morning (10a or so), so I met her there and she was quite lucid! "I just got this way", she said. :)

So, we talked, she pee'd, we talked, her phone rang (lots of "Sweet Home Alabama" ringtone), she got a roommate, then they came to get her for surgery at 6pm.

It's 8pm now; came home to feed the kids and make sure the dogs and cats were still living together.

Now, it's back to St. Mary's for Round 4. Post-op, make sure there are no complications, kisses from the kids, and come home for some sleep.

Then, it's kids back to school and wifey home, hopefully by noon tomorrow. Yay!!!!

I told her this was a heck of a way to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!

Again, I opine----

OH, THE UNMITIGATED GALL.....BLADDER!!!