A Day With Luis at St. Clares

OK, I still don't like religious hospitals and this was no exception. The nursing staff, however, is top-notch and they took excellent care of Luis. None-the-less, I would not like this as a place to go with the weird religious overtones. Luis' room had a crucifix on the wall. Ugh - that gives me the willies. There were priests and nuns around. I am particularly anti-Catholic since they are anti-anyone-who-isn't, an attitude I never agree with.

We got there at 0531, and into the Same-Day-Surgery wing on the fourth floor where Luis and I found a single lone nurse. We got his room and he was instructed to divest himself of all clothes, jewelry, piercings, etc. He was out of his "casual clothing" (sweat pants that should never be worn out of the house and an old tee shirt that one of my penfriends sent him) and into the cheesy backwards gown in no time.

He laid in bed, which was clearly too short for him and I sat in the chair designed by Torquemada leaning my head against his right side. He and I chatted and laughed about different things and had fun speaking with his... wait... four different nurses (one of them has an Irish brogue that was sheer delight to listen to). The nurses were all great although I thought Linda had no sense of humour but then at the end of his stay she really lightened up and was as funny as could be. She suggested that we take the plastic urinal in case Luis needed it and if not, we could use it as a planter in the front yard to remind us of our fun time at St. Clares.

Hee hee.

The anesthesiologist came in, introduced himself and was a really nice young guy who explained everything he was going to do and use. General anesthesia is never a drug; it's a composite of several things: a sedative, a pain medication, an antibiotic, an anti-nauseal drug, and I think there was something else in there. A whole cocktail of interesting things. I really love that he was totally up front about how this whole process would work and what was going into his system. After that, his urologists showed up and explained the whole surgical process to us as well as percentages of success and failure and what would take place if there was no success this morning. I really like him: Dr. Adam Berman in Dover (out of Denville St. Clares). Very good guy!

The nurse (one of them) set up his IV and discovered that Luis is a really difficult stick. She had a hell of a time getting the IV needle in and normally these are excellent needles for the initial stick. Once in, the peice is flexible and moves with the patient, but Luis was uncomfortable. Personally, I understand that completely - I find the back of the hand IVs extremely uncomfortable. I usually push for the IV to be put in the crook of my left elbow. My right arm isn't good for intravenal sites. My left arm has a big beautiful easy vein right smack dead center.

So he was all set up and then the nurse from surgical, Nancy, came in to get him. What a pisser she was! She was really great. I wish I knew all of their names but it was still early, I was extraordinarily tired and they were all looking a bit peaked this early on.

He went in for an 0630 surgery and finally was wheeled out at 0709. He was in surgery until around 0830 and then Dr. Berman came and showed me the image of Luis' stone (a piece of it, anyway) and then explained that it all went very well, the stent is in and will keep the tubing, which is inflammed and sensitive, from closing up. He mentioned that passing some blood and pain in the kidney area would be normal for two to three days. He needs to come in on Monday, 14 April to have the stent removed.

He said Luis was in recovery and would be up in about 45 minutes but he's fine and is coming out of the anesthesia well.

Sure enough, he was up exactly 5 minutes later and totally normal. He was oriented to person, place and time and knew who I was and what had happened. Not like me, who can't remember anything after anesthesia and then I get violently ill; not like Ray, who came out of it totally paranoid and not at all oriented. He hardly knew who I was and seriously thought we were out to get him. This was much more reassuring.

I went in to be with him as soon as he was brought up and we were there until 1215. We finally got home after getting pizza and picking up prescriptions in Montville around 1300.

Now I have training across the street in ten minutes and then to bed. I will be at work tomorrow.