Don't worry, we are home now and P went to work today. He is tired but that is not strange if you think all he went through. I will finish the posting about the operation, than I can leave it behind, too.
I was telling how it went right after the operation. Well, we arrived to the hospital right at the moment that P was brought back to his recovery room. It was after 6.30p.m. We went inside with the girls. P looked like someone who was just coming out of narcoses, just waking up. Well, they kept him at the edge of sleep with some drugs so he wasn't actually waking up because he was awake. Too difficult to explain, anyway, he saw us. He was very emotional, and of course me too. The girls looked a little distant. They didn't jump on him or anything. A seemed quite confused, she didn't like P laying in bed. F was acting a bit shy.
P was talking, but he kept on repeating the same things - I hear some people laughing -. He said 'did you talk to my parents'; I said 'yes, I talked to your dad'; 'why not my mother, why didn't you talk to my mother?'; 'I just let them know that you were out, it is late there you know'; 'OK'. Two minutes later: 'Did you talk to my parents?' ..........
He also kept on telling F that he had her drawing with him the whole operation. He couldn't hold it in his hand, so the doctors taped it on the bed, just next to his eye. It is a very cute story but came coming back. He also kept on falling asleep.
The nurse said he probably would go home next morning around 9. Now, it sounded like the deadlines from an IT project, quite impossible, but what do I know about patients. We didn't stay too long, I thought it was better to let P sleep.
I went to the restaurant at the corner of the hospital with the girls. Not much later Kerry, Tita's daughter came. She was going to stay with me at the hotel and babysit. We had quite a nice dinner. F was totally impressed with Kerry. She kept on looking at her with a dreamy smile. I was glad to see that, we all met Kerry that evening for the first time and fortunately she is a very nice girl. I brought the girls and Kerry to the hotel, put the girls to bed and left for the hospital. I was glad I had a babysitter.
P looked better, he was not repeating himself and looked really awake. He didn't remember much from the first time we were with him. He was the only patient at the department. There was a nurse that took care of him. As all the other nurses and doctors we met, she was very nice. She said P could already get up. We tried it just before I left, but P felt sick right away. How was he supposed to leave the hospital the next day? I left the hospital after a while and went to the hotel where there girls were sound asleep. Finally a good night sleep.
Next morning, I went to the hospital around 7.30, I didn't want to miss the doctor. Kerry took the girls out for breakfast. I was still hoping to leave the hospital before lunch time and I was making the logistic plans for the departure. Of course I already had packed and everything. P didn't really looked that good. the was still in bed and weak. The doctors came by and said that the procedure went very well, although it was very long and they have good expectations about he results.
Anyway, hours passed by and I still didn't know if P could leave. I had to check out so I carried all the luggage to the car with Kerry and the girls, checked out of the hotel. While Kerry and the girls were waiting at the waiting room, I stayed with P. Nobody could tell me when P was leaving the hospital. I couldn't keep Kerry with me anymore, I had to say good bye to her around 2.00 p.m. It took still couple of hours till everyone gave it up, P was staying at the hospital one more night. Luckily, I could get a room at the hotel - the same one that I left that morning - for only 10$ more. Well, it was week-end, understandable. Only this time I had to carry all the luggage back to the hotel with the girls, without Kerry or P. In such situations, F is such a big help! She gets this look on her face, saying she accepts her destiny. I couldn't go the hospital to see P that night, no babysitter.. I took the girls to a TGI Friday's for dinner. Not that we felt like going out or something, but we had to eat. Bad restaurant choice, they put us at table at the backside of the restaurant - two kids, oh no, put them by the kitchen - and the music was so loud and busy. I left the restaurant half hour later with two crying kids. At the hotel, we were all exhausted.
Next morning (Saturday), P looked quite better except a pain in his chest and he was also a little short of breath. Well, after such a procedure, not so strange I thought. They took a chest film, that didn't really show anything to worry about. They saw that one of his lungs was a little deformed and they thought it was due to long operation. His other values looked OK except a little high blood pressure. The doctor came and finally said we can go home. I was very happy to hear this. I was already checked out of the hotel - I am still impressed with my planning and logistics -, I had removed the car one day before at a very good spot in the parking garage so that P didn't have to walk much or take a lift and was anxious to get home. On his feet, P left the hospital and beginning of the afternoon, we were at home.
P had a very bad night, He was coughing if he laid on his back. I was so tired, I thought 'why don't you lay on your side, then you don't cough'. Never think such a thing, you only feel guilty later. See why: Next morning P called the doctor from the hospital. He told about his coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain. The doctor sounded little irritated, but still we ended up at the emergency room where we basically walked in before all the people waiting there. P ended up staying at the hospital 2 more nights, took 6 different antibiotics and had probably something like 10 doctors walking in and out of his room. That was the lung Pneumonia that I wrote before. I hated going home that night, cried to Brooke on the phone and to Brooke and Paula, the head of the school next morning. I slept very bad and when P called next morning at 6.30 a.m., just to wake me up, I got to the phone in panic thinking something bad had happened. Probably I deserved it because I thought 'why don't you lay on your side, then you don't cough' while P couldn't breath normally and he was thinking they burned something very wrong during the operation and he will never recover/be normal again.
We came home around 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Just half hour later, we had two neighbors at our door with food - they came separately. It seems to be traditional here to bring food in such a situation. More Turkish than Dutch I would say. The next day, Paula showed up with food. Overwhelming. The next day, we baked 4 Swedish brownies for the 2 neighbors, Paula and Brooke. The girls baked one each and I kind of lost track of the measurements, so I was afraid they wouldn't taste good. Fortunately, didn't hear anything negative.
P is back to work since Monday and he is doing OK although he is still tired. Now, life just goes on....
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