UPDATE on mom: She came through the surgery well and was quite the chatster upon getting back to her room. Of course, that had to do with the fact that she had a welcome wagon waiting for her! Oh, and drugs, of course. As we say: “Better living through chemistry!”. So far, so good. When I left at 8pm, she had eaten some (dessert first, dontcha know?) and was pretty tired. I will be there tomorrow and will send on all your good wishes and energy. Thanks for all the nice comments. They help keep me going.
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Let me just say that I truly hope admitting/testing day is NOT a harbinger of how the surgery goes for mom. It was not a fun day y’all. She was a trooper, though. I gotta give her that. I’m just glad that Cousin ‘O Love is coming in today - she’s a hospital administrator and knows what should and should not be done. Yesterday was FULL of the latter category and not so much of the former.

It probably goes without saying but let me say it once more for the road: if a loved one is admitted to a hospital for ANYTHING, please be sure to go with them and advocate for their needs. Mom was really nervous and scared and I asked for xanax (which she has listed as approved meds) as soon as we got to the room. She didn’t get it until at LEAST 2 hours later. And pain meds (again, listed as approved) took oh about 6 hours. And this after I went to the nurse’s station at least three times inquiring about it.

Sigh.

Again, please keep her in your thoughts. She had a very rough day yesterday after which major surgery should be a walk in the park.