offcntr | Paging Doctor Bear

Sometime last November, Denise noticed a bump on her belly, right around the button. A visit to her doctor, followed by imaging, showed an umbilical hernia. It wasn't deemed serious; the bump was fatty tissue protruding through the gap, not, say, intestine, so they referred her to a surgeon, who scheduled her for surgery in mid-February. Unfortunately, as has previously been recorded, that date got canceled by an unexpected ice storm, and their first choice to reschedule was two days before we flew out to Wisconsin for Mom's birthday party.

So they finally got her an open spot this past Thursday, check-in at 11:30 am, surgery an hour later. I brought her in a little early, waited till she was called, walked her back to prep, kissed her goodbye and went down to cool the kiln. Came home, biked some errands, did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom, all the while waiting for the call to pick her up. Which didn't come. And didn't come, By quarter to five I was getting worried, so I drove over to Riverbend to check in, only to find they'd only gotten to her nearly four hours later, at 4:15. After a full day of no food, no water... no book to read--she'd sent her phone and glasses home with me.

Finally got to join her in recovery at 5:30, where she was gratefully and still a little loopily (because anesthetic) slurping down a cold Pepsi. Doctor said everything went well, the nurse gave us instructions on the dressing, binder, pain meds. She's doing well, though keeping Flynn from jumping on her stomach continues to be a challenge.