Ike Surgury

Well, Ike did just fine last Friday with his surgery. It wound up being a little more complicated than we had originally thought it would. Turns out they had to break the bone in his leg as well as just lengthening the tendon.

Our neighbors showed up with a little breakfast for us to eat in the waiting room. We had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. so we were feeling a little groggy and in need of a cup of coffee. Made for a welcome site at any rate.

We were checked into our room before they came to get us and out the window we watched the rain on the foothills of the Cascades. The Mountain was hiding in a bank of clouds and way off in the distance someone was riding in a hot air balloon. The view from his room overlooks Wright’s Park and most of Tacoma’s downtown.

Later that night, after we were back in the room and had both taken naps, Rainier came out from it’s hiding place and we watched it turn from a soft pink to a deep red as the setting sun did its thing.

Ike had visitors throughout the day. Most just came by for a minute or two before letting us be. The neighbors came by in the evening and brought us dinner from Li Li’s, a Vietnamese restaurant not far from the hospital.

Ike spent most of the day on morphine, coming in and out of consciousness like you do when you’re on heavy drugs. We decided early on this trip that we would aggressively treat his pain with drugs. The last time we were here there were a number of airway issues that we had to contend with that limited our ability to sedate him. But this trip we had no such issues.

Mostly on our trips to the hospital, after the excitement starts to wane and the boy is sleeping, Sweetie and I look for hospital supplies to pilfer. For those of you who might not know, there is a rule in hospitals that just about anything that is in the patients room belongs to the patient. Not machines that beep or bedding or furniture not the big stuff, but just about anything else. Tape, Kleenex, split gauze, bacitracin, shampoo, hand lotion, PediaSure, hand soap, bottled water and cereal. Outside of Ike’s room is a nurse’s supply-station, which is like the Wall Mart of medical goodies.

When you’ve spent as much time in the hospital as we have, you come to learn that there are things that one can only get in the hospital. Things like these little green sponges on the end of a plastic stick. Perfect for swabbing out his mouth with a little cool water when he’s not feeling all that well. Or medical tape. There are more types of medical tape than you could ever imagine, most of them useful for one thing or another. Sometimes there are batteries or giant rubber bands, battery powered vibrators (to help infants lungs clear they say…) infant tubs and washcloths. We’ve found that rubber gloves work great for cleaning up after puttering around the garden. There are bags of diapers, boxes of wipes and plastic utensils for the next bar-b-q.

This time we got a new car seat out of the deal. With his new body cast he no longer fits into his old car seat so his hospital bill pays for the new one. We took one of the blankets as well, though those technically are supposed to stay in the hospital.

Saturday, Ike slept most of the morning away, which was fine with us. It was a good sign we thought, since he must have been feeling more comfortable. Gave us the window of opportunity to get the hell out of there and come home.

Today, Ike is feeling a little bit more like his old self though he is still fairly uncomfortable. We just try to keep up with his pain medication as best we can and know that after a few more days he’ll be as good as new. Well at least as good as can be expected having a cast that covers a good part of his body. He’s a real trooper though and even when he’s in some pain, he tries to give you a little smile to let you know he’s gonna be just fine.