I woke up to a stinging sensation in my wrist, and an ache in my side. I could tell that it was early, the sun wasn’t fully up yet. Nikki must have gone back to the hotel. I was glad she decided to try for a decent night sleep.
“Good morning, how did you sleep?” Shirley asked, speaking more to my wrist than to me. Was I even going to have any blood left after this? I think this made the fourth time since pre-op. Leave it to me to develop a stupid infection to make an already bad experience worse.
“Good. I don’t think I woke up once.”
“That’s what the night shift reported, too. That’s a very good sign.” She bandaged my wrist.
“So, is it go home day?” She put a thermometer in my mouth while I was still talking and a blood pressure cuff around my arm.
“The doctor will make that call.”
“You work long hours,” I said when she finished taking my vitals.
“12 hour shifts. I do pre and post op for Dr. Grimsely. Arm or IV for pain medication?”
I rolled up my right sleeve as a reply. “And you work patient rooms, too?”
“Only his patients, and only when he requests me to. Usually, the unit nurses can monitor until discharge, but he wanted to make sure he got all of the infection, so he sent me to check up on you.”
“I hope he did. I don’t think I can handle that again.”
“Your wife told me that she thought you weren’t completely numb. It’s rare, but about 1% of people are immune to topical anesthesia and light sedatives. You could be one of them.”
“But the first thing you gave me, before the surgery, helped.”
“That was an anxiety medicine to help you relax. I couldn’t give you a sedative right before general anesthesia. They may feel similar, but they affect different parts of the brain.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so calm in my life.”
“If that’s the case, you might talk to your regular doctor about being on anti-anxiety medication permanently.”
“What if it makes me too calm, and then I can’t take care of my family
?”
She raised her eyebrows at me, “You won’t turn into a zombie. And your PCP can work with you until the dose is right. It will probably help with pain during recovery, too.”
“Am I going to get any pain medication for home?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.
“Yes. Not as strong as here, but he’ll probably send you home with the same you had before, just a lower dose.”
“What if I’ve developed an allergy to that, too?” I didn’t want to have another night of the bees experience.
“I doubt that’s the case since you were on it before for so long. We can bring your prescription when Dr. Grimsley writes it and monitor for about 15 minutes to make sure you don’t have a reaction.”
“That sounds fair enough.”
“Alright, I’ve got to get this to the lab so they can be working on your chart. I’ll come back and check on you after I get the first patient in for surgery. Dr. Grimsely will do his rounds between his first and second surgeries, he won’t want to wait on a chart.”
“I’ll just wait here, then,” I said.
She only rolled her eyes as a reply.
I checked my phone for messages. Several texts from Tay. I gave him a brief update and told him I thought I would be discharged today, and to make plans to come to our Christmas party.
“You look bored to tears,” Nikki said, walking in with bags of what I hoped was breakfast, and cups I knew were coffee.
I looked up from the swirls I was making in the bed sheets with my fingers. I quickly smoothed them back out.
“I hadn’t quite made it to tears yet, but I was getting there.”
She rolled the tray table over to my bed and set out the hot coffee and breakfast biscuits. “This should be better than whatever they are planning on bringing you.”
“Oh, I’m sure. You are the best.”
“I have been working on your honey do list for when you are fully recovered. Your Dad texted me. He went by our house to check on it yesterday, seems it isn’t as winter proof as the real estate agent led us to believe. And we have some other projects that aren’t immediate, but we need to deal with before January.”
“We’ll get it taken care of,” I said, between mouthfuls of biscuit.
“Has anyone been in to give you a discharge update?”
“Just Sheryl. Dr. Grimsley ordered more lab work, and she gave me another shot of pain medicine. I think it’s the last dose of the strong stuff. She said he would be in between his first and second surgeries to give me an update.”
She shook her head.
“What is it?”
“Oh it just surreal to think that we are just about done and some people are just getting started with this whole ordeal.”
“When you put it like that, it is kind of weird. And all of this is just a day job for the doctors and nurses. And for us, it’s a huge deal.”
“Well, I guess we wouldn’t feel very safe if they were freaking out as much as we were.”
“You were freaking out, too? I couldn’t tell.”
“I about went crazy that night they had to drain that infection. To see you in so much pain just about killed me. They asked if I wanted any anxiety medication.”
“Did you?”
“No, I didn’t let them give me anything. I wanted to say alert in case you needed me.”
“I probably would have said no, too, if they would have given me a choice.”
“They said you had an allergic reaction to some antibiotics, but I looked up some stuff on the hotel computer. I think you also had a reverse anxiety attack when that first shot she gave you wore off. I happens to some people. It would explain why you thought there were bees everywhere.”
“Good thing this is a teaching hospital. I think I had just about every complication possible from this surgery.”
“You are quite the complicated man,” she teased.
“Well, I’m glad I have you around to keep me straightened out.”
“It’s what I’m the very best at, if I do say so myself,”
“You are pretty good at . . .” I cut off my flirtatious response as Dr. Grimsley walked through the door.
We looked up at him expectantly, both wanting him to say we could go home and enjoy the holidays with our family.
“How is your pain today?”
“About a three.”
“That’s a big improvement. And so are the numbers on your chart. Every last thing is within normal range, so what do you say we get you on the road? I know you weren’t planning on the extra day, but we had to be sure the infection was gone.”
“It certainly was unplanned, but I understand.”
He nodded. “I have the pharmacy working on your prescription. If you still feel normal after 15 minutes, you will be free to go.”
“Sounds great!” I said, grinning from ear to ear.
“The instructions for your medications are in this packet,” he handed me a thick stack of papers, “I don’t want you driving for about a week. Don’t lift anything heavier than a jug of milk with your left hand for at least two weeks. I’ve already spoken with your doctor in Tulsa. I want you to follow up with him in a week, then every other week for two months. We are going to be in communication with each other to make sure you are healing as expected. If you have any questions, or any pain in your left side over a 5, call me. I know it’s a drive for you folks, but I want to follow up with you in 6 months.”
“We will make it work,” Nikki promised.
“Good.”
A pharmacy tech knocked on the door and handed Dr. Grimsley a bottle. He glanced at the label then handed it to me.
“Go ahead and take one of these. While we’re waiting to make sure it’s ok, I’ll have Sheryl come in with a few papers for you to sign and get you off these monitors. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes.”
I struggled with the cap until Nikki opened the bottle of pills for me. I washed it down with coffee.
“That may not be the best combination,” she said.
“Well, the coffee was already in my system. A little bit more won’t hurt.”
“Ok, we can’t do anything about it now. But that hanstubborness is going to have to take a break while I’m taking care of you.”
“Yes, m’am,” I said, willing to agree to just about anything to go home.
“Good,” she said.
Sheryl came back in the room then and started pushing buttons to turn off the various machines. “Is that medication sitting with you ok?”
“So far, so good,” I said.
“Great.”
I winced when started taking off the heart monitor patches.
“I know, those pull a bit. You are almost done with us, though. Hang in there for me.”
I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Go ahead and start reading over these forms to see if you have any questions while I take this IV out,” she put a few papers into my left hand. They were just standard forms saying I agreed to follow the doctor’s instructions, I wouldn’t sue the hospital if I didn’t, I promised not to abuse the pain medicine and I would pay my bill in a timely manner. Despite her trying to distract me, the reading material was less than engaging and I felt my arm burn when she took the tape off and removed the needle. She quickly bandaged the hole in my arm and handed me a pen.
“If you understand everything, you can sign those forms. Once I get copies in your chart, and Dr. Grimsley gives the final ok, you’ll be good to go. If you have clothes to change into, you can go ahead and do that.”
“We are right across the street at the hotel. I thought he would be fine in his scrubs until we got back to our room,” Nikkie said.
“Oh yes. I can have the orderly take you right across the sky bridge.”
“That would be great, thank you,” She said.
“I’ll let him know. Let me see if the doctor is ready,”
She was barely out of the room before he came back in.
“Ok, looks like we have everything we need. Take care and I’ll see you in six months,” he held out his hand.
I shook it, although his grip was a bit firmer than mine after all the abuse both arms had been through this week. He quickly left the room.
We had to wait a while for the orderly to come. “We might miss check out,” I looked at the clock.
“I told them you were being discharged today. They were really nice and said that since they have so many customers with patients here they can usually give a few courtesy hours, unless they are booked solid.”
“That’s really nice of them.”
“It is. I hope I have time to take a shower before we head home.”
“I’ll help you rinse off, and wash your hair. You can’t get your stitches wet, though,” she patted the discharge packet.
“When did you read that?”
“Last night when I left. They gave me my own packet.”
“Sneaky.”
“But at least I know what’s going on.”
“You always know what’s going on.”
The orderly came in with the wheelchair then. I didn’t argue this time. I knew it was policy for me to ride until we left hospital premises. Besides, I was starting to feel tired again.
Nikki was right, the sky bridge provided a beautiful view of downtown Dallas. The orderly left us off right at the double doors to the hotel. Nikki looped my arm in hers, like we were walking into a fancy party. I was so lucky to have her.
I kissed her the minute we were behind the door to our room. She started to wrap her arms around me, then wrinkled her nose.
“What?” I asked.
“You haven’t had a bath in four days, and you smell like it.”
“Well, then I suppose you had better do something about that, Nurse Nikki.”
“I suppose I should,” she said, already peeling off the top to my scrubs.