Our Weekend With Lance - Part 10

Part 10
Monday Evening – October 16th

Jimmy wakes up from surgery and the nurses wheel his bed back into his room. He is wide awake and looks like he just woke up from a nap … not major surgery. Is he tough or what?

Dinner is served shortly after Jimmy gets settled. This is Jimmy’s first meal since Sunday night. Poor thing wasn’t allowed anything to eat Monday morning because of pending surgery. He’s hungry, but with all the IV tubes he’s hooked up to, I cut up his chicken and feed him his dinner. Nothing like being waited on hand & foot!

Jimmy’s hooked up to the pulsing booties, to keep his blood flowing in his lower extremities to prevent blood clots, so he can’t get out of bed. So he’s reduced to using the plastic jug urinal. They are running IV fluids through him like crazy, plus he’s thirsty, so he’s filling this thing up every hour. Lucky me, I get to play nurse.

The kids call and Jimmy gets to catch them up on his exciting adventure.

Jimmy is dozing on and off through the evening, when he’s not filling up the urinal or blowing his spirometer.

Tuesday is the day to get Jimmy out of bed. He’s been laying around long enough, lazy bum!

Lupe, our nursing assistant, and Dee Ann, our nurse, for the day stop by … checking vitals, dropping off breakfast.

Roland, Jimmy’s PT, and Danielle, Jimmy’s PT assistant, show up and explain that the goal for today is to get Jimmy out of bed and have him take some steps around the room and sit in the chair. Sounds good.

Roland shows Jimmy how to move his right leg and schooch to the side of the bed. I’m standing back in the corner of the room watching this, and I notice Jimmy get that weird gray-skin, glassy-eyed look he gets when he’s going to go down for the count. Uh, oh. “Roland!” I yell, the warning not coming fast enough. Just as Jimmy is about to stand up, he slumps down and falls back on the mattress. Roland tells Danielle to go get the nursing staff while I rush over and start slapping Jimmy in the face, talking to him, trying to bring him back around.

SIDE NOTE --- Jimmy has done this to me many times … it usually is due to infliction of sudden pain … like the first time he did this … he stuck his hand with a bbq meat fork prying Tupperware frozen hamburger containers apart. This was the day we brought Autumn home from the hospital when she was just 2 days old. The long sharp bbq meat fork slipped off the plastic container and it punctured his hand several times. He looked up at me, said something in gibberish and fell (like a tree) back into the kitchen. OMG … I thought he had a stroke. Talk about scaring the crap outta someone … I hobbled over (remember I just delivered Autumn 2 days previously) and found him sprawled out on the floor … I thought he was dead. So what do I do? Start slapping him in the face until he comes around. He has since done this many times over the years, most recently when he had some outpatient surgery this past spring when the nursing staff was trying to start his IV. Oh my, did that turn into a bloody battle, or what?

The staff responds quickly and we get Jimmy coming back around. It’s really weird when he comes back around … he has this sickly grey tone to his skin, and his breathing is all garbled, his eyes are rolling around and you think he’s a goner … then his face and neck turn beat red and his eyes flicker, he gives a big snort and TADA … he’s back! He gets the cold sweats and starts shaking. Whew! Close call.

Roland instructs him how to schooch back onto the bed, we get him covered up with some nice warm blankets toasty from the dryer, and Lupe is taking his vitals. The staff begins to calm down and Jimmy is exhausted. Roland and Danielle will be back later this afternoon and we will try this again. Oh goody!

Jimmy takes a nap and wakes up when lunch is delivered. He is feeling a little bit better, but he is all sweaty and feels gross. After lunch, I give him a sponge bath. He has not had a shower since Sunday morning before he left for the ride and he is one stinky boy! We get his sheets changed and a nice clean hospital gown and he is a happy camper.

Roland and Danielle come back … Round 2! We get Jimmy to the edge of the bed …

So far … so good …

We get him to stand up … Uh, oh … here comes that grey color again and his eyes start rolling … “ROLAND” … Roland is anticipating this, so he has a pt belt around Jimmy’s waist and slowly lowers him to the bed. The staff responds faster than the morning round and using some ammonia sticks bring Jimmy around faster. We get him back in bed and more toasty blankets; Lupe is back checking his vitals.

How the heck am I going to get him home if he pulls this blacking-out crap when I am the only one around, carting luggage, wheeling him in a wheelchair, navigating the airport terminal? Okay, this has not been fun so far … and I am now starting to “FREAK OUT” … on the inside!