Finished...at last Finished

Walt is now hernia-less and moving gingerly, but has survived the long nervously awaited ordeal and is on the road to recovery.

It was a long day.  Things medical do not move quickly!  He was told to be there by 8:30.  Ned arrived here around 7 and we packed up to head to Vacaville.  Norm and Alice Nan were waiting for us in the ambulatory surgery waiting room when we arrived  She had driven up to Santa Barbara to Norm's house in Petaluma and the two of the had driven up together.

Walt checked in and we sat down to wait to be called.  Walt read over the instructions they gave him.

An hour or so later, they called him back, told us they'd do the prep, which would take about half an hour, and then we could go back and be with him. 

They have this very efficient method of keeping track of your loved one.  Each patient is given a number and the numbers are displayed along with the matching color.  The color tells you were they are in the process.  At any time you can check to see what is going on, but at the same time, nobody's privacy is being violated.  And at the same time it keeps the staff from being bombarded with questions.

We were in the "Patient in the pre-op holding area" for an inordinately long time.

It was actually more like 45 minutes before they let us in, 2 at a time.  And we sat chatting with Walt and texting with the ones who were still in the waiting room.  At one point I texted to Alice Nan that we needed her because we were running out of topics of conversation (something she never does).

It took forever before they finally took him into the operating area and the doctor told us it would be about an hour before the surgery was finished and another half an hour in the recovery room before they would call us to come and be with him again.  We went off to lunch at the Black Oak diner, which we have passed by on the freeway for literally 45 years or more and had never visited.  Our lunch was just arriving when the doctor called to let us know that surgery had gone well, and we were on our way back to Kaiser when the nurses called to say he was ready for visitors.

We found him not the least groggy and sitting up watching TV.

Other than incisional pain he seemed to be just fine, though Alice Nan was very solicitous.

Again, it took an inordinately long time before they were ready to release him, while Ned ran off to the pharmacy to get his prescription filled.  Then we went to get the car(s) while the nurses got him in a wheelchair to meet us downstairs.

We were working on a sort of time line.  Jeri's concert at Berklee was being streamed at 4 p.m. and though it would also be archived so we could see it later, we were hoping to catch it live.  We got home at 3:30 and Ned tried to get the concert on our smart TV, but our smart TV, working with only wifi, was dumb and though he could get the page, he never could get the concert to come on.  I could get it on my computer, but my speakers have not worked in years, so I have to use earphones and thus could not share at least the sound with them.  But I loved it and will write about it tomorrow.  The others were watching it on Norm's TV in Petaluma.

Ned cooked dinner for us before Jeopardy came on and then our wonderful friend Nancianne stopped by with dinner as well.  We watched America's Got Talent and then Ned and Walt went off to sleep after a long day.  Ned expected to be up early, though I have been awake since 4, it's now 7 and still no sign of him.  I'm not surprised he was exhausted after his long day taking care of both of his parents yesterday!