Mom's surgery: Part Two

Where did I leave off...? Ah, yes.

Mom had her surgery and everything went swimmingly, so Dad and I took her home the same day around 3pm. When we arrived at the apartment she said she felt dizzy and light-headed, she wasn't sure she could make it up to the apartment. Dad and I told her that there was no rush and to just take her time. But after 3 hours she didn't feel any better so we all agreed she should go back to the hospital (she is a nurse after all and knows better than the rest of us if something's off).

By the time we got back to the hospital the mild abdominal discomfort she'd had at the apartment turned into a sharp pain across her stomach. It was about 7 o'clock when we first got back to the hospital and she had to endure this pain, which became worse as time went on, until the doctor decided she needed to have another surgery at 12:30 or 1:00. When Mom went into surgery her doctor personally escorted us from the ER waiting room to a quieter waiting area where we could sleep if we wanted (and also so he'd know where to find us afterward). Considering I'd been up since 6:30 that morning I'm not surprised I fell asleep.

Some unknown time later I woke suddenly straight out of a dream. Dr. Shibley was sitting in the waiting area. He started explaining about what he thought happened. He said that during Mom's first surgery what probably happened was that a vein got nicked and slowly leaked into her abdomen, which is why she felt ok before leaving that morning but not by the time we got her home. Shibley wanted to keep her in Intensive Care overnight so she could be kept a close watch on just in case. She ended up staying until Sat afternoon because her hemoglobin was low and had to have a couple blood transfusions.

She's back home now, safe and sound, ready to get back into packing up and moving into her new house.