Plans and Preparations

I had a chat with the girls about transport operations for Wednesday, and bless them both, they immediately said "Nooo mummy, you must take daddy to the hospital..he will want you to take him...we can get the bus that day"...bless them both, I wasn't expecting that response and was very touched by their kindness and compassion.

There is no way Ady or I would go trotting off to the hospital for major surgery and leave the girls worrying on their own for over an hour to get to school. Firstly, that would be very cruel to them...Christ, you cant leave two girls alone like that while the mother takes their father for a cancer op, and secondly, I wouldn't be able to trust them not to try and kill one another while we were gone. Each girl in turn would be phoning me with their explanation of who did what to whom and why it isn't their fault......no, that would be too stressful, so I came up with a brain wave....

We are all going to take Ady to the hospital for the 7am check in and if me and the girls leave the hospital about 8am, I will have them to school in time.

Steph says that she doesn't mind being late for school as her first two lessons are maths and English, but Charlotte quite likes her drama lessons and would like to be on time. I have told them both that we will be on time as they need educating and stimulating and if they don't go to school and learn stuff, then they are going to be fick !

So, with that sorted and everyone happy, the next item on the list was the pre op assessment.

This was at 1pm yesterday. We arrived at the hospital and Ady wanted to get a ticket for 2 hours..."bugger that I said, they are robbing bastards, charging for hospital parking and making money out of peoples misery, we will only have an hour". Ady argued that we really should get 2 hours, just in case (he always plays things safe, that one), but I won and we just got the hour. "It wont take long" I said

In we went to the ward, let them know we were there, and took our seats. And we sat, and waited, and sat, and waited, and sat, until it was 10 to 2 and I had to go and put another hour on the parking ticket...robbing bastards! Ady did the whole 'told you so' crap that men come out with when they think they are right, and I ignored him, like women do when they know they are wrong and don't like to admit it. Then we were called by the nurse..thank God !

She took some swabs to test for MRSA and then did an ECG, so wired him up to the machine and pressed a few buttons, and when the paper reading came out, the lines looked like there had been an earthquake... "Oh dear" she said, and did another reading which was the same. I thought bloody hell, now he is having a heart attack!. She was fiddling with the machine and said to Ady, "Is that  a mobile phone in your pocket?" Ady said very proudly that it was, but it was switched off. 

I thought, oops, not a heart attack after all, and secretly switched mine off without anyone noticing. She asked me if I had a phone, and I too, proudly said that mine was switched off, so she blamed it on Ady's phone in his pocket. He had to give it to me, and on the next reading, his heart was perfect....well, I didn't want to get into trouble !

Then we went into see another nurse, who went through his medication and what he can take on the morning of surgery and what he cant't. We had to fill out the health questionairre which she went through.

She was rather surprised that with all his ailments, he had only had one operation. She was particularly pleased to see that he doesn't drink or smoke. Ady said "Yeah and look where that has got me...the wife smokes and drinks and hasn't had a days illness, I've never had a fag in my life and I've got the bloody cancer!" The nurse didn't know what to say and me and Ady were chuckling at eachother.

Occasionally, Ady likes to let me know that when we first met, 20 years ago, he was fit and healthy, played lots of football, worked hard and had a head of hair...nearly. Since then, he has had arthritis, diabetes, underactive thyroid, OCD, high blood pressure, gone bald, colon cancer and now prostate cancer. I don't really know what he is getting at......

I really need to find a moment to ring the benefits office....*sigh*