It’s the day before David’s surgery, and I thankfully don’t have to work. Yesterday he went to the hospital to get some bloodwork and other tests done, and brought home a huge packet of information regarding his procedure, hospital stay, and recovery. Thank God, because he never asks a single question at his appointments, and doesn’t let me go with him.
So last night at 10 p.m. (only an hour after I got home from work; it was a long day) I sat down to read the packet in detail. It included advice on things to do before surgery, such as:
- Be familiar with the guidelines and benefits covered by your insurance company – we have no idea
- Make a list of your medications – done and already submitted
- Make plans for transportation home & someone to stay with you at home for 7-10 days – that’s me!
- Fix up your home so that it is safe & uncluttered – always
- Obtain adaptive devices such as raised toilet seat, hand held showerhead, etc. – nope, hoping the hospital will fix us up
- Stop blood-thinning medication seven days prior to surgery – oops, David took an ibuprofen yesterday. Oh well.
In addition to those instructions, I have a checklist of my own. It is as follows:
- Sleep in – sort of done. Dogs were having panic attacks all night long which resulted in me getting pawed at and whined at every thirty minutes. Curled into a ball, put in ear plugs, and diligently ignored them until 9:30 a.m.
- Take a really, really good shower and shave
- Encourage David to do the same
- Do my nails
- Clean the house from top to bottom
- Do all laundry
- Return overdue library books
- Drop the dogs off at miscellaneous family’s houses
- Grocery shopping
- Make copies of house key
- Get power of attorney paperwork signed and notarized
- Figure out our financial situation
- Pray, pray, pray
The next few weeks are going to be quite an experience.