Finally I hear him snoring...

"I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you." -Bill Walton

I've been eager for these days of vacation from school, but today in the pre-op room, reality finally struck. This was going to be no picnic. Today Rob had surgery on his nose to correct his deviated septum and remove excess polyps...aka to help him breathe correctly.

I was a little bit nervous, afraid I was going to cry when they wheeled him away to surgery. Sometimes I'm just too sappy for my own good. This was just day surgery after all. Rob, too, was a little bit nervous. But, mostly he was just hungry. He couldn't eat or drink ANYTHING for the last 12 hours.

As soon as they took him away, I hurried downstairs to the food court to fill my own belly. And, then I sat in the waiting room. And, sat. And, sat. They messed my name up every time they called it over the loudspeaker. Each time, I cautiously crept towards the desk... "did you mean me?"

Finally the doctor called the lobby to tell me it would be about an hour more. However, he meant an hour until I could see my husband. He didn't mention the two hours we would spend in the recovery room, with a dumb nurse, an obnoxious conversation behind the next curtain, and another patient who seemed to be coughing up a lung. From Rob's last surgery, I most remember his flirtatious and boisterous nature in the recovery room... this time he was just ornery, and getting crabbier by the minute.

By the time they finally pushed his wheelchair to the car it was 6:00. We had a thirty minute drive back home and arrived at the Target pharmacy just moments before it closed. When the pharmacist replied, "Don't go far. We close at 7." I replied, "I'm running out to the car to change his bandages, but don't worry, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

We got Rob settled in the bed upstairs (his choice, and I wasn't going to argue), propped up on old pillows (he refused to dirty the new ones), wearing fleece pj pants, two shirts and a load of blankets (he was cold), gave him a couple of slices of bread (his first food of the day), popped a pain pill (he's too manly to ask for two), and waited for sleep to come.

Finally I hear him snoring...