This is the ''til death do us part' part, Will said to me as I untangled his I.V. and morphine drip so we could begin the laborious sitting-down-on-the-toilet.
Just pee and I'll be happy, I told him.
...
Will went into surgery at 4:54pm, and the doctor told me it'd be an hour, with maybe 30-45 minutes in the recovery room. Go get something to eat, Will told me, I'll see you in a little bit.
I kissed him on the forehead and walked out the door. I was concerned but not worried. While surgery, an appendectomy is a relatively routine procedure, while the doctor said there might be a chance he'd have to be cut open, they'd probably be able to do it lapriscopically. I met younger slackbrother j. at Jerry's for a quick bite, and together we headed back to the hospital. It was 6:15pm.
I called the Recovery Room. Can I come back and see my husband? I asked.
He's not out of surgery yet, the nurse replied.
I got the same answer at 6:30pm.
And 6:45pm.
At 7:00pm, I knew something was wrong.
Younger slackbrother j. kept me occupied, talking about this and that to distract me from the fact that it had been over two hours. At 7:30pm, the surgeon finally came out.
He's fine, but there were complications.
They tried it lapriscopically, but his appendix was too thick - something the doctor hadn't ever seen before, and although he had checked for tumors or growths, he wanted to look at it under a microscope just to be sure. They couldn't proceed with the typical appendectomy incision because the sucker was too large and his small intestine was in the way, so they had to make a four-inch vertical incision on his upper abs.
We don't want him eat anything solid until Monday, he continued, and we won't release him until Tuesday at the earliest.
I thanked him, and he told me I could see Will in"about half an hour." Which stretched to an hour. Which stretched to two. Younger slackbrother j. had to leave as he was covering for me at work and had to be there at 5:30am.
At 10pm I was told Will was being transferred to his room. I waited outside while they moved him from the gurney to his bed, hooked up the braces on his legs to the machine (which massage the muscles to prevent blood clots), hook up his morphine drip, moved his I.V. He was groggy and confused and his voice was barely a whisper and I smiled and he told me it hurts and I went from terrified to terrified but in control. I introduced myself to nurses and discussed his pain management and got him extra drugs. I held his hand and called his family and called my family and let everyone know he was okay.
I should have stayed overnight, but I had to get home to Daisy. Plus he was so groggy from the morphine, I didn't think he even knew I was there.
When he called at 6:30am, confused and scared still totally out of it, asking where I was and apologizing in the same breathI knew I had made the wrong choice.
Today he's been back and forth, sometimes completely coherent and sometimes completely nonsensical. I spend the bulk of the day there, coming home to walk Daisy and pack an overnight bag for our Cedars Slumber Party.
I'm not really doing anything but watching him sleep and helping him to the bathroom.
Is this what you thought marriage would be like? he asked at one point.
This is exactly what I thought marriage would be like, I replied. And I finally get to see you pee.
Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts, and please excuse me if I haven't responded to you personally. I can promise that I have passed them all on to Will. He's been checking his email on my Blackberry, so if you'd like to send him a note, please do.
Edited to add: I am now running betwixt Will's room and the ER, because younger slackbrother j. probably broke his elbow. He is either going to work tomorrow with one arm or I am going to work with negative sleep. Life, she is never boring. Why did I not pack my flask?
But: Free WiFi at the hospital FTW. Thank you, Cedars!
