So, I'm going to apologize in advance for any of the typos and if some of this seems to drag on. I'm still really tired from yesterday and I haven't dealt with a long, long day like yesterday in absolutely forever.
To start this off, my dad has had back problems for as long as I've been alive. He has thrown his back out of wack so many times that I can't even tell you how many times it's been. My stepmother, on the other hand, apparently has had some problems with her neck that weren't addressed until Christmas. When my dad announced that he was getting some sort of surgery on his back, she popped up out of the blue and said that she was getting the almost exact same surgery on her neck.
Dad's pain has escalated in the past six months since I've moved out. He previously walked with a severe limp, but it had gotten to the point where he had been out of work for three weeks, he needed a cane to walk, and it was impossible for him to stand up straight while walking, sitting, etc. I hadn't realized it had gotten that bad until I heard him talking about it during Christmas. All that being said, my dad really isn't that old; I'm his oldest biological child; I'm 19, he's 45.
The original surgery that the two of them were supposed to be getting was two discs fused in in their spine. My dad's was going to fix the fact that he had a bulging disc in his spine which was causing him to have shooting pain through his left thigh, and my stepmother (again, I don't know where this even came from) was having some sort of pain from her neck.
My stepmother had her surgery Tuesday and was discharged yesterday; I didn't go to the hospital until Wednesday, yesterday, which was the day he was scheduled to get his. Originally, I was going to be the only person going with him because one, I was the only child of his of legal age that could drive him, and two, he thought it would be easier for me to take him. Instead, my aunt (who lives across the street from my parents) drove and went with us because she knew I would probably be a mess being at the hospital by myself; I really hate hospitals and I had never had to deal with something like this before in my entire life.
So, dad had to be in the city (which is an hour drive from where I live, adding another 30 mins since I had to go to his house) at 6:45 am. I woke up at 3 am yesterday, got dressed and ready to go, and left my house at 4. I got to my dad's around 4:45, and we left to head to the city a little after 5 am. We got to the hospital at 6:15 and while my aunt went to go park the car, I went in with my dad so he could get checked in. We sat there for a few minutes, before they told us that he could go get checked in with the out-patient surgery people, and I had to give the staff my name and phone number so they could call and update me on when he got out of surgery, etc.
Just to throw this out there, I'm really not a fan of that particular hospital. Their methods are kind of weird (referring to the phone call thing), and the way that they run the place has always gave me a heebie jeebies. Then again, when I was 3, the same hospital tried to send me home with a 103 degree fever before I had a fever seizure in the emergency room and they rushed me somewhere else, realizing that they almost killed me.
They wrote down my dad's "patient number" on a slip of paper and gave it to me because in the "family waiting room" they have these huge television screens that scroll through a set of lists every 20 seconds saying where your family member is with their surgery. For example, there were four rows, each one with a different stage of surgery (pre-op, surgery, recovery, recovery 2). You used the number they gave you to find your family member in what stage they were in with their surgery. They were really, really awful with updating the lists though.
So, about 7 was when they took my dad back for his pre-op. He gave me his cell phone and this little rubber ring thing he wears in place of his wedding band because of the fact his wedding band is too small for him. I put them in my little makeup bag I carry in my purse and my aunt and I sat there for a little over an hour before they called us back so that I could see my dad before they took him in for his actual surgery.
We sat with him for maybe 45 mins, just talking, and a few nurses and a anesthesiologist asked him some questions. Finally, when they determined that he was ready for his surgery, he gave me his glasses and my aunt and I went back to the waiting room for a bit before we stopped by the hospital cafeteria to get some breakfast.
Now, I mentioned my stepmother earlier and here's where I bring her up again. Her surgery was the day before yesterday, she had to stay overnight and was being discharged yesterday. She wanted to see my dad before he went back for surgery, but she had to go get an x-ray so she wasn't able to see him.
I can't even tell you how long I sat in that waiting room. It was forever. Eventually, I went out to my aunt's truck to smoke a cigarette because I was getting overly antsy and I hadn't had a smoke in well over 5 hours at this point (I know, I'm bad). While I was sitting out in the truck, staring at the rain, my stepmother called me from her hospital room and asked about my dad. My stepsister had stayed overnight with her, but she had went home for a little bit to take a shower and my stepmom asked if I'd come up to her room to hang out with her for a while if I felt like it.
Now, everyone knows that I don't get along with my stepmother very well. I knew she'd be doped up on painkillers like she absolutely enjoys, so I knew I'd be able to tolerate her for a bit. When I walked in, she was in a neck brace (and will be for six weeks), had a bandage on the front of her neck, and she was complaining about being in pain.
To explain in short terms what they did for her surgery, they took a piece of her hipbone, and used that to replace the disc that was messed up in her neck. In other words, now a piece of her hip is a part of her neck.
We talked for maybe 30 mins, my stepsister came back, they were getting my stepmother's discharge paperwork finalized, and then my cell phone rings and my father's surgeon tells my that my dad was out of surgery and everything went well. They tell me that he's moving into the first stage of recovery and they'll give me a call when I'm able to see him.
My stepmom's paperwork was finalized and they told her to go home and rest since it'd be over two hours before anyone could see my dad... and they were right, it was two hours. By this point, I had went back to sit in the waiting room with my aunt and when they called our names again, we went back to my dad's room to find him sitting on a hospital bed eating some Goldfish Crackers and taking sips of a jug of water. He seemed to be in a good mood, but then again, painkillers will do that to you. He said that the pain in his leg and back were finally gone and it was like a sigh of relief for him.
Originally with his surgery, they told us that he would be able to go home the day of the surgery, but now they were saying that they were going to hold him for a 24 hour observation. My aunt and I stayed with my dad for a little over an hour, talking (and that's the most I've heard my father speak in three years) before we decided we were going to the mall for a little bit before heading home. At the time, we didn't know what exactly they had done for his surgery as the only nurse we saw was the one who was watching over him in case he needed anything.
Well, we went to the mall, stopped at a TGI Friday's for dinner, and as soon as we ordered our drinks, I get a text from my dad that says, "Come back." I called him, trying to figure out what was going on and low and behold, the hospital decides that he can go home and they're getting his discharge paperwork ready. He said we had time to eat though so we did that and high-tailed it back to the hospital.
When we got there, they told us that my dad seemed to be doing so well that they didn't think he needed to stay the night. I mean, the only thing they really did for his surgery was they opened up his back, saw that he had a piece of bone that had grown and pinched a nerve on his spine (which was what was causing the shooting pain) and they cut that off and everything was done. So, they gave him the prescriptions for his pain and said he could go home.
Thus we went, heading back to the town I basically grew up in. It was a 30 minute drive in 5 o'clock traffic, which was god awful. We dropped my dad off at my stepgrandfather's house (which is where he and my stepmother are staying until Friday), went off to Walmart to get his medicine, waiting for that, and finally my aunt and I began to head back to the house I grew up in.
My siblings (ages 16 and 17) were at home so I checked on them to make sure they hadn't burned the house down, and finally, I got in my car and made my way back to the city I live in. I was so tired on the way home that I spent 15 mins in pure paranoia, and the last 15 mins on autopilot. I don't remember the last 15 minutes very well, but I know I burned through 3 cigarettes and half of a Monster Energy drink.
I left the house at 4 am, and didn't get home until a quarter til 9 pm. I was asleep almost as soon as I hit the bed and talked to Kevin for maybe 15 minutes until he managed to fall asleep before me.
So yeah, that was my day yesterday. I'm still feeling the effects of waking up freakishly early in the morning and not taking a single nap to catch up on sleep. I was pretty sure that if I laid my head back on the seat of my car then I was going to fall asleep while driving home.
As for my parents and their recovery, both of them are doing fine right now. Dad can get back to driving in 3 weeks, my stepmother is in a neck brace for 6 weeks so she can't drive until she gets that off. I don't know when my dad will be able to return to work which worries me a little bit because he's the only one earning money in the family and since he's already been out of work for 3 weeks, he's been having to borrow money from someone.
It just still blows my mind at how close their surgeries had to be. Jeez.
Until next time,
Kayla V
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