On Thursday afternoon we took a long walk and made a plan.

We have several values we were trying to balance:

Sleep - the #1 healing activity for Cindy

Less Stress - this one is for Kyle

On-Time - we needed to check in at the Frisco hospital at 7:45 AM

Therefore, we decided to drive back to Frisco on Thursday night and stay at the hotel near the hospital. There was less traffic at 8 PM and that would make a more pleasant, less stressful journey. Even if there was bad traffic and slowdowns on the roads, we would arrive eventually at the hotel with a lot less chaos. Cindy could get in bed a little after 10 and then did not need to get up until 6ish to be ready to be at the hospital right at 7:45 AM. We executed the plan.

The morning broke bright, clear, and cold. We both dressed in Valentines red and put on our best smiles.

We arrived at the hospital with high hopes.

We were first on the schedule so we only waited a few minutes in the lobby before they came to get Cindy. Gosh, this day is going great!

I sat on a couch and my mind drifted and I listened to all the sounds around me. There was a TV in the waiting area, but too far away to hear distinct words. It sounded like a Charlie Brown cartoon. There was a door about 20 feet away that sounded like a rifle cocking every time it flung open, which was often. I tried to get my body not to react, but I never could get the tension reaction to stop. Several times the squeegee-like sound of wheelchair tires came sliding past me. All in the area where the whispered conversations of fear, concern, and conspiracy. Then there were a nurse’s shoes that made the sound of dying balloons each time they touched to floor.

The rifle went off again and Cindy appeared out of the starting gates. Cindy pulled out a yellow post-it note and with triumph in her voice, she said, “The MRI has been approved! I just need to call this number and talk to scheduling.”

We dialed the number and talked to a very confused woman. She did not have the approval. She tried a few things and still no approval. The people who gave Cindy the Post-it note were sealed behind this big metal door. It looked like another dead end.

We were supposed to take a copy of the scans and X-rays to the Doctor and so we had to go through the process again to find the check-in nurse to get the disks so we could leave.

The meds make Cindy a little loopy and she forgot to tell me that the scan tech had shown her a piece of paper with the approval on it. We needed to get to that document. We called our Dr. office and told them we would be late, they said they would be waiting for us.

We started over at registration. They took us to a cubicle. We told the story again. This guy started making calls. Talking to the people we had talked to already. He called our Dr. office. No one seemed to know anything about this sudden approval. After an hour we gave up without anyone ever talking to the scan techs.

With a scan and an x-ray on a disk, we headed to the office. We were late, we only had partial information, but we were ready for some answers.

We turned in the disks and waited while they looked them over. They brought us back to an exam room. The monitor was aglow with pictures. Sasha carefully showed us the site of the surgery and that the “cages” and screws were all in place. The bones were all in alignment. Everything looked great.

Then we turned to the left hip and leg. Sasha was a little hot. They had not done the correct X-ray. They were supposed to cover the hip area, but they only got pictures of the back. The X-rays were useless.

We all gripped. She showed us the orders. The word “LEFT HIP” jumped off the page. No medical jargon, no unclarity, just simplicity. The techs had ignored or overlooked the order.

We went forward with the appointment. Looking at Cindy’s movement, strength, and flexibility. She passed all those with flying colors. We reviewed her medicines and made a revised plan. Then we turned to the new pain. After the physical exam and the scan, they feel confident that it does not have to do directly with the surgery.

It is most likely blood pooling putting pressure on the nerve and it should resolve with time OR

It is Piriformis syndrome which has a similar profile.
Other GI problems are a result of the general trauma of the surgery and again will work themselves out in a few more days or weeks.

We asked lots of questions and felt better about most things, but still have that nagging feeling of uncertainty.

We left the parking lot and got a call back from the Dr office we had just left because we had all forgotten to check on our refill status. We stopped in a random parking lot and sorted through the pills, thankful that no police drove up next to us and wondered why we had so many pills.

We headed back to the hospital. We checked in at the desk and showed them a copy of the printed orders. There was some head-scratching, but no apology. Eventually, she disappeared back into the fortress and they took more X-rays. Again we got them on a disk.

We decided it was Valentine’s Day so we stopped for a late lunch (it was now 12:45 PM). I took her to a great BBQ place (high-protein) inside the HEB (only the best for my girl). Then we headed to the doctor’s office to drop off the X-rays and started the long journey home.

While on the road home, the pharmacy called to say they did not have the medicine to do the needed refills. So we called around to find the meds, get new contact information, called the doctor’s office again, and gave them a new place to call in the prescription.

We got back to Athens at about 4 PM.

We had a few good answers
We had tried to laugh at all the Keystone cops moments
Cindy has not had any pain meds since 3 AM!

21 Hours

What Kind of Day

Baby Steps