LESSONS FROM THE RECOVERY ROOM

A few bumps in the road of life

It happens to those who live long enough. Going to the hospital for surgery. Then the recovery process.

However, the past week and a half have been a bump in the road for my husband’s and my well-laid plans.

My surgery was scheduled for the last Tuesday in January. I was going to rest the day before, go to bed early, be ready to leave the house at five am.

Instead of resting that night, I drove my husband to the ER with pains we couldn’t identify. The result: an overnight stay (for him) and scans revealing intestinal blockage. Friends prayed and God unplugged the pipes. Fortunately, some of our daughters drove in to help.

Next day, one daughter drove me to the hospital while another picked up my husband. My hospital-chauffeur daughter spent the next two days with us serving meals, doling out pain meds, and doing housekeeping chores. I concentrated on shaking off the anesthetic.

Then the second bump in the road. After two days of strenuous caregiving, this daughter went home and came down with the Super Virus. She spent a miserable night on her bathroom floor, too sick to move.

Five days after my surgery, another daughter and her husband went on a cruise (planned before they knew we were going under the knife). Who got to come and watch their indoor dogs? You guessed it: we did! The other relatives were either sick or working.

Two days after we began dog sitting, my husband’s surgery occurred. Now we’re hobbling around our daughter’s house, taking turns letting her huge Doberman dogs out for potty runs in the yard. 

We have been blessed to repeat a lesson learned years ago.  You can do whatever you have to, whether you feel like it or not. And somehow you survive.

What about you? Any experience relearning what you thought you already knew? Or learning about surgery? Use the comment box below and tell us about it.