Surgery done

Dh's gallbladder is out and no complications. The surgeon said (when he called me after he was done with the surgery) it had lots of stones in it, so it's good he had it out. But, what a damn long day it was.

We had to be there at 10:30, so left our house at 9:30. Checked in and waited about 25 minutes to be called back. Then it was a half hour of checking him in back there, getting the iv in and then injecting him with some kind of green dye through the iv. The nurse said that needed to be done like an hour or hour and half (I can't remember which it was now) before surgery. This was at 11:30 and then we just sat there until almost 1pm. His surgery was supposed to be at 12:30. Finally the surgeon and then the anesthesiologist came back to see him before the surgery. It was 1:15 when then wheeled him back. They had told us the surgery would be 2 hours, then about an hour in post op and then they'd move him to recovery area, where I could come back. So, like a good 3 hours before I could see him. Then I asked about how long he might be in the last recovery part and she said could be up to several hours, depending on how he's doing. Dh and I decided I'd better just go back home so I could let our dog out, otherwise he might be stuck in the house for 9 or 10 hours. I figured I had plenty of time, since it's 45 minutes home and back each, plus a quick stop at a store.

So, I headed home. My original plan was to just stay in the city and run over to a grocery store for a few things, so instead I drove past our house and the 10 miles into our town store. Stopped and filled back up with gas, ran into the grocery store for just a few things and drove home. I was pulling into our driveway at 2:45, 90 minutes from when dh was wheeled back to OR and the surgeon was calling to say he was done. I literally had a few minutes to let the dog out (he did have to go!), go to the bathroom myself, put the milk in the fridge, grab a box of crackers, because I had only had a granola bar at 12:30, and get back in my car and head back. I got back up to the waiting room and had only sat down less then 5 minutes when a nurse came out to get me to take me back to his recovery area. 

From 4pm to 6:45 we waited for him to be ok enough to leave. The day before, whoever called had said to use the hospital pharmacy for his meds he will be prescribed as by the time he gets out and we got home our town pharmacy would be closed. When the surgeon was seeing him prior, I asked if I could fill this prescription while he was in recovery and was told no. Well, by the time he was able to get out of there and they gave me the prescription the hospital pharmacy downstairs was closed! So, in order to get this prescription we'd have to go find a Walgreens or something. Great. It was already almost dark, a long drive home and neither of us wanted to delay getting home another half hour or more. DH has all the pain meds he got prescribed from when he went home from his pancreatitis stay, so we decided he would just take those until this morning. They were basically the same thing. We got home at 7:30pm.

He's got 4 incisions and surgeon said the biggest one on the left will be the most painful, probably for quite awhile. He's still in quite a bit of pain, he says. I'm leaving in about a half hour to go get the new prescribed meds, which also had acetaminophen in it, to get there when the pharmacy opens at 9. I also have to get something called colace for him.

We didn't get to talk to the surgeon after the surgery. DH is wondering why stones in his gallbadder did not show up in any of the ct scans, the ultrasound, endoscopy, blood work markers (I thought one of the dr. who saw him in the hospital for pancreatitis had said it also shows up as a blood work marker and so did dh). So, that is a question he is wondering right now and I guess we'll have to wait to get answer to in his follow up appointment in 2 weeks.

I'm now wishing I would have also just taken today off, but oh well. I'll make it through. Plus my boss had to take today off for something, so best I am available today, since she is not.