Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Waiting




Waiting in a hospital is not fun. Especially when it happens day after day. Almost six days, to be exact. My husband went in for surgery early on June 29th. He had three vertebrae fused in an 8 1/2 hour operation. He mostly slept for the first 4 days, so I sat and waited. A lot. And I am not good at waiting, so it was a difficult task. I had thought I would work on a couple of new blog posts, but my iphone apparently decided that was not going to happen. Since we were in Anchorage, there wasn't much in the way friends or family to break the monotony. So there I sat, in a tiny corner with books and newspapers and my iphone. Fortunately, the procedure went well, and he was eventually up and walking with a walker, soon graduated to doing a few stairs, and then we were sent out the door, free to head to my brother's home for a little more recovery before heading back to Fairbanks. 


View from the 6th floor of Alaska Regional Hospital, Anchorage, Alaska 11pm

To make a long story short, we went to my brother's house and my husband tried to get settled in, but just couldn't get comfortable.  Not surprising, since he had 27 staples in his back. So I came up with a plan... give him his pain meds, stuff him in the back of the (small) car and drive all night to get home. Well, I am happy to report that it worked! We spent about 6 hours on the road, he slept most of the way, and children and hounds were very excited to see us the next day.
June 28th, Cantwell, Alaska, near entrance to Denali National Park

He continues to recover remarkably well, with the help of a few gentle (!) hounds.




Molly, best therapy dog ever!





4 comments:

Ina in Alaska said...

Oh Edie! How come you did not call me!!! I would have been very happy to help you have a bit of cheer while in Anchorage!! Our son got married on June 26 and we had lots of company but the more the merrier. The next time you come to Anc PLEASE call!

You did great getting your husband home! There is no place like home to recover. It looks like he has been through A LOT!! Hope his recovery continues to go well. Love the attendants!!

Wimsey said...

Hope the healing is quick and how could it be anything else when there are hounds around?

Bentley said...

What fine therapy hounds! Good thoughts for a smooth recovery process.

Bentley's people

Bernie said...

Hope he feels better soon. Hounds are very good at therapy. I'm working on being Mom's sleep therapist--I think she gets way too much of it so I get her up at 4 to go out.