Surgery

Yesterday I received a phone call from Kira chewing me out because I neglected to let any of the kids know that Mom was having surgery today. I have to admit that I would be rather put out if one of my kids had surgery and didn't tell me so I guess she had a right to be upset. My only excuse is that I'm so used to Lisa keeping every one updated that it didn't even occur to me to let anyone know. Of course Lisa isn't going to want to tell everyone about her own problems so that should have been my job. 


I decided the best way to make amends would be to give them all a running narrative during the surgery. Rather than tell the story all over again I figured I would just repeat the text messages here.


10:59 Me: We have mom all checked in and we're now waiting. Her surgery is scheduled for noon and is expect to last an hour. 


11:01 Ben: We are praying everything goes well. Let us know.


11:01 Sarah: :( call me as soon as you get out?


11:04 Me: They just took mom away to prep her. They wouldn't let me go with her. They said I could go see her once they have the IV etc. all hooked up.


11:05 Me: We are at the Palomar hospital in Escondido.


11:06 Sarah: ;(


11:09 Alycia: Thanks for the updates.... I bet you're making Kira happy.


11:16 Me: I have been chastised for not letting you all know about Moms procedure. Sorry about that. My only excuse is that I am used to letting mom keep you all informed and it didn't occur to me that she would be reluctant to talk about herself. I should have known better.


11:28 Alycia: I am not worried about it haha don't be too hard on yourself.


11:30 Me: Thank you.


11:56 Me: I'm in with mom. They're letting me be with her until they put her to sleep.


11:56 Me: That's not the kind of sleep we did with Bridget by the way.


11:58 Ben: I wasn't going to give you a hard time because I knew Kira did.


11:58 Ben: And I'm like Mom in where I just kinda keep that stuff to myself.


11:59 Ben: So I understand


12:13 Kira: How are you holding up Dad??


12:17 Me: I am fine, thank you for asking.


12:16 Brandon: Tell mom not to look into the light


12:20 Me: Mom said that she saw that light once and she isn't ready to go there just yet.

12:14 Me: We're waiting for the person currently in the operating room to get out. They're running late.


12:15 Me: Mom is getting anxious, she isn't liking this and wants it to be over with.


12:16 Ben: Just make sure they don't rush anything. You couldn't resist the Bridget joke eh?


12:16 Ben: :)


12:18 Me: It sounded funny when I said they were going to put her to sleep so I just had to say something.


12:18 Sarah: Tell mom I love her and I'm keeping her in my prayers. Please keep me up to date. I love you and hey we all know Mom would never talk about herself  ;) Love you: See you in 2 days!!!


12:19 Kira: Give mom a big hug for me.


12:19 Kira: I love you guys!!


12:20 Kira: and thanks for not putting Mom down!  ;-)


12:22 Me: You guys are all making mom laugh and its hurting her. She wants me to write down all your funny comments.


12:24 Kira: I won't be able to respond for about an hour now but please still send me everything. make sure mom knows I love her!!


12:25 Me: I gave her a hug for you  (which I really enjoyed by the way) an I'm reading her all of your texts. I will keep you updated.


12:32 Alycia: Tell her not to worry about him being late. It will literally be over in the blink of an eye for her haha!


12:43 Me: You will be disappointed to know that mom is not pregnant.


12:45 Sarah: Well wouldn't the bleeding confirm that?


12:45 Me: She has her tubes tied and she's been bleeding since August but they still made her take the test. 


12:46 Me: You would think so eh?


12:46 Ben: And that cost how much? No wonder our healthcare system sucks...


12:46 Sarah: Ha ha ha how did surgery go? Is she out yet?


12:47 Sarah: Yea! haha


12:48 Me: We're still waiting for the last guy to get out of the room.


12:48 Me: Pretty ridiculous eh?


12:52 Me: If they take much longer they won't need drugs. Mom is almost asleep.


12:52 Alycia: Pooor Mamasita


1:09 Me: The anesthesiologist just talked to us. I guess she is going to have general anesthesia. I thought it was going to be the one that just makes you all loopy.


1:10 Me: It should be soon now.


1:10 Kira: Good luck


1:18 Me: They just took my wife away. She should be done in an hour.


1:18 Me: In case you weren't aware of just what is happening, let me explain.


1:19 Sarah: :)


1:19 Me: Moms uterus has many fibroids and polyps.


1:20 Alycia: that's scary


1:22 Me: Since the ultra sound doesn't have enough resolution they are going to do a hysteroscopy to see exactly what they are dealing with.


1:23 Me: They will then do a D&C which means they will scrape clean the inside of her uterus and hopefully remove the polyps and maybe some of the fibroids.


1:23 Me: If the fibroids are not in the way they will then do an endometrial ablation.


1:26 Me: In this case that means they will insert a wire mesh which opens up inside the uterus. The mesh will then act as a microwave antennae which will burn the inside of her uterus.


1:28 Me: If the fibroids are in the way then they won't be able to do the ablation. In that case they will insert an IUD.


1:29 Me: The hope is that the ablation will force her into menopause.


1:29 Me: The IUD may or may not stop her periods.


1:34 Sarah: What's an IUD?


1:36 Me: It stands for Intra Uterine Device. It is normally used for birth control but I guess it can stop your periods.


2:31 Me: The computer board says that mom is out of the procedure room. Yay.


2:32 Alycia: yay!


2:32 Kira: Oh good!!


2:34 Ben: Yay!!!


2:37 Me: I just talked to the doctor. Mom's been done for a while but the doc had to go deliver a baby before she could talk to me. 


2:38 Sarah: Is she okay?


2:38 Alycia: wow... uterus, baby... lots to do.


2:38 Me: Everything went perfectly and I should be able to take her home in about an hour.


2:41 Kira: Did they do the ablation?


2:41 Ben: Ha ha. Busy doctor. Everything ok?


2:42 Me: The doc said mom is still quite groggy so they won't let me in yet.


2:43 Alycia: boo.


2:43 Kira: That's how I am when I wake up. Every time I kept trying to go back to sleep.


2:43 Me: They did a D&C and the ablation. No need for the IUD.


3:05 Sarah: How is she???


3:06 Me: I haven't been able to see her yet. They said everything went perfectly.


3:21 Alycia: So does that mean it worked well enough there was no need for the IUD?


3:21 Me: yes, it ent well. No IUD.


3:23 Alycia: How do they know they don't need the IUD? How can they tell it will stop the bleeding?


3:24 Sarah: yayayayayayay


3:30 Me: I'm in with mom. She's hurting but very happy.


3:35 Me: Blood pressure 141/86, heart rate 77 bpm, oxygen level 100%. They need to unplug her so we can go.


3:53 Me: We're on our way to the car.


3:55 Ben: OK good! No more doctors visits for you two for awhile ok?


In addition to all of the text messages Lisa received a few video messages as well.

When I was talking to the doctor I asked if I would be able to see some of the pictures from the hysteroscopy. She was a bit surprised but quite willing to accommodate me. I thought I would share with you the inside of Lisa's uterus. It is kind of strange to think that all six of my children have been inside of this thing. 

The picture on the left is from before they did the endometrial ablation. According to the doctor it looks surprisingly good. The fibroids were all intramuscular so they wouldn't cause any problems with the ablation and the only polyps she was able to see were very tiny ones near the opening that were not likely causing her any problems. She thinks that the bleeding is caused by a lack of the hormone that normally stops a woman's period. That misty white thing in the "before" picture is actually some of the membrane that gets shed every month. In a healthy young woman the uterus would be full of the stuff. Mom's is mostly gone because she is so close to menopause.


The picture on the right is the "after" picture. To me it looks to be about medium well done.


Desiree has been wonderful through-out this whole experience mom has been going through. She has come over to visit with her several times before the surgery and then she came to the hospital to be there after mom came out of surgery. The original plan was for me to go back to work and Desiree was going to take Mom home but we were so late that I canned work for the day. Desiree then decided that she would go get us some food and bring it to us. The woman is an angel and I know she is like that for everyone, not just us.


I now have mom home and she is mostly just tired. I think she will be tender for a while but she claims the pain isn't a whole lot more than she has dealt with for the last few months.

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The Medusa fish can live forever.

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