The Day After

Leslie and I got to Wichita by noon so we looked around the nearby shopping center until 12:45 when we went back to the clinic and signed in. About fifteen minutes after 1:00 the nurse came out and told us the doctor was running late and it would be about fifteen more minutes. That was about 1:15. By 2:00, he still had not come. 2:30 came and went. I asked the nurse when she thought he would be there and she said he had just come in and was with his first patient.

At about 2:40 they called me in for the pre-surgery paperwork. I was pretty unhappy by that time. My blood pressure was 155/90. They asked me if that was usual and I said it had been 120/71 that morning but after waiting two hours past my appointment time and after driving two hours to get there, I wasn't surprised that my pressure was up. (if I had been two hours late, they would undoubtedly have canceled my surgery).

He finished the first patient about 3:00 and they finally got me in. The actual surgery lasted about thirty minutes. Then there was the post-surgery instructions where they called Leslie in to listen too.

We hadn't eaten all day so we stopped at Olive Garden and had soup and salad at 4:00 and we finished there at 5:00. I called Bob A. and asked him if he would go over to my house and let my animals back in the house. They were hungry by then and it was getting cold too. He was there when we got in at 7:00. He stayed a bit and visited with Leslie and me and asked if I wanted him to stay the night.

I thought I would be alright but told him if I got to feeling insecure or had a problem, I would call him. He said he would come right over if that should happen.

I had a fairly good night..sleeping in the recliner. I had held an ice pack on the eye the entire two hour trip home from Wichita. It did not swell or bleed. It did ache a bit....at times quite a bit. But there was no real pain.

Missy slept on my lap all night. Slinky got me up at 10:30 to go out and then went right back to sleep. He woke me again at 3:30 and spent more time out there. He finally came back in reluctantly. It was 20 degrees out there. He wanted back out at 4:00 so I let him out and went back to the recliner and went back to sleep until 6:00.

Then I got up and let Slinky back in and fed him and Missy and Inky. I fixed my coffee and the oatmeal which I usually share 9/10 of it with Slinky. He loves oatmeal. The eye had not swelled or bled.

I read my e-mail and fooled around an hour. About 7:00 Bob A. popped back in to see how I was doing. He brought his coffee and we visited awhile. He went back home to bring me his two ice packs. I couldn't get the second one they gave me at the clinic to pop and get cold.

Then later in the morning I went back to the recliner to put the ice pack back on it. I noticed a little blood on the ice pack and went to look at the eye. It was a little swollen and was bleeding just a bit in the inside corner of the eye. I took a Kleenex and let it flow onto it and that was all there was.

So, I have sat in the recliner off and on all afternoon and put the icepack on the eye and also paid my bills online.

I had sold another book on Amazon so I packed it up and asked Bob A. if he would go to the post office for me and send it off. He was happy to do that. Before he got over here, Cyndi came and brought me the income from the booth for December. Then when he came, I was able to give him his $25.00 for the sale of his dishes. And I was able to get an ice bag back on my eye.

Judy and Marilyn came awhile ago and brought me a gift. It was a lovely little bird and a card that one can cut up and plant in the garden and it is made from seeds and will grow flowers. I will keep it and cut it up and plant it in the new flowerbed in the spring. How thoughtful! I have the neatest friends!