It has been an interesting few days.
Jeff's latest...and hopefully, last procedure...an endarterectomy artery carotid was scheduled for yesterday, Dec. 9th. He had to have the usual medical exams, blood work and of course, a covid screening before it. Then Monday, Dec. 7th's mail brought us 2 letters from his insurance company. One date 12/1, informed him that they were denying approval for the procedure and the other, dated 12/4, informed him that because of the intervention of the surgeon they had changed their ruling and were approving the procedure. (They had done the same thing before his last procedure. I don't understand the attitude of this insurance company but I did decide to change companies because of it. He hasn't decided yet.) Jeff learned that the doctor actually telephoned the insurance company and had a chat with someone. (I would love to hear a recording of that!!)
On Tuesday afternoon someone in Admissions at the hospital called and told us that Jeff should check in by 5:45am as his procedure was scheduled to start at 7:30am, and we went over what medications he could take in the morning. Now we live app 32 miles from the hospital and the only way is over country roads, up and down hills, so for him to be there at 5:45am we'd have to leave by 4:45am. Neither one of us got a full nights sleep...I never even went to bed but kept napping in my chair while I was reading. I got Jeff up at 3:30am so he could shower and take what medications he was allowed to. We headed out the door about 4:30am. After a quick stop at Stewart's, we were on our way south to the first hill and by the time we were to the top of it it was snowing. As we kept going further south...and further up hills...it snowed harder. Well, not exactly harder, just steadier. The total snowfall was only an inch or 2 but part of the time visibility was near 0! There was very little traffic and no snowplows.
I've driven this road once or twice a month from mid-spring thru November for the past 45 years because the craft co-op I belong to has a gift shop in the same village as where the hospital is located and I go down to work in it. I know this road. When I had my cardiac episode and broke my leg I was conscious during the ambulance ride to the hospital over this route and I knew where I was from the duration of the ride and the curves in the road. Yesterday morning I could not tell where we were several times! It was scary to be surrounded by walls of white. We made it to the hospital in about an hour (usual time is 45 mins)...and by then, the snow had started to let up. I let Jeff off at the entrance, wished him luck, he wished me a safe trip home and told me to get some coffee before I headed for home. And as he turned and walked into the hospital, I headed for home. I do not like hospitals that are locked down and visitors not allowed.
It took another hour to get home. There was more traffic on the road...but still no plows or sanders. The part of the trip down that had caused me problems was fine now...the snow had let up and I could see the sides of the road. The top of the big hill, with wide open farm fields on both sides was now the awful part. It was snowing steadily, visibility was near 0 and there was plenty of traffic coming at me with their high beams on. And there were even a few fools who felt I wasn't moving fast enough and had to pass me! Thank God they made it because I wasn't sure where the edge of the road was so I wasn't moving over for anybody. By the time I got home and into the house I was shaking. I was tired and wanted to go to sleep but I was so nervous I drank 2 cups of coffee before I calmed down enough to lay down. Both dogs crawled onto the bed with me and I finally slept. It was almost 7am.
We woke up a couple of hours later. The dogs wanted to go out and I wanted more coffee. I realized I had forgotten to bring in the 3 gallons of water from back of the car but I had enough water to make another pot of coffee. That's all that mattered to me then. It was too early to call and see how Jeff was doing so I cleaned house a little. (If you know me, you now realize how nervous I was because I can usually ignore a messy house but yesterday I had to straighten things up!) Around noon I decided I could call the hospital and see how Jeff had fared but he was still in the operating room! The nurse said to try again in an hour and I said I didn't want to be a bother. She laughed and said it would be ok, they had more nurses than patients at the moment. I waited until 1:30 before calling back and that time was told they were just starting to close. She said that would take an hour or so and I said then he'd probably spend the rest of the day in Recovery and she agreed. I said I'd call back before 5pm to see how he was but he had a nurse call me around 4pm to make sure I had made it home ok!
Since I was finally starting to relax, I decided I was hungry and got out a package of frozen meatballs. I dumped them into a dutch oven and slowly let them brown, then poured in a jar of marinara sauce and let the whole thing simmer on low for half an hour or so. I still hadn't brought in any water so I decided a covered meatball sandwich would be good enough for supper instead of pasta. I mashed up a meatball apiece for the dogs and mixed that up with their dry food and a ladle of sauce. Everyone cleaned their plates last night! I washed dishes and had another cup of coffee but was careful to leave at least 1 cup in the pot so I could have coffee in the morning. After supper I had to clean Fanny's ear and put in her ear drops which she hates and it took awhile for her to calm down! Then I spent the rest of the evening online and on the phone updating friends and family on Jeff's condition. I was still pretty beat and I must have sounded it because my cousin Ed told me to hang up and go to bed around 10pm. I did and we all slept till morning!
This morning I brought in the 3 gallons of water when I left the dogs out so I was sure I had enough water to make coffee. Around 10am I talked to a groggy Jeff and he told me that he was going home today. The doctor had already been there. We set up how he'd let me know what time to pick him up and then I called the floor nurse to make sure Jeff had it straight. He did! I cleaned the coffee pot and filled it but didn't start it. I'd do that when we came home. Jeff called back around 11:30 to say 'come get me!' but I wasn't quite ready so I told him I'd be there within an hour and started to move! He called my cell again as I drove into Richfield Springs wanting to know where I was and how long it would be before I got there...about 15-20 mins. He said he'd meet me downstairs. When I finally got to the hospital there was a line of cars outside of the entrance. I sat there for a minute, then put the car in park and went towards the door. Jeff saw me coming and came out before I reached it. I had to stop at the shop before we left town but didn't stay for long. We headed for home and Walmart where he picked up two Rx's and then stopped at Burger King to get him a soda so he could take a pill and I got chicken nuggets for the dogs (their favorite treat) and made it home by 2pm. We had coffee (and I had toast...my lunch) while I let a few people know he was home. Then it was nap time again and the house was quiet. I couldn't sleep this time but the house sounded normal again.
FYI: An endarterectomy artery carotid is basically a router-rooter job done on a carotid artery...in Jeff's case, the left one. A 2" incision was made below Jeff's left ear and a plastic tube was used to bypass the blockage in his carotid artery. Then the artery was cut open and the blockage scraped out. An balloon angioplasty can be used to make sure there are no other blockages in the artery. After the artery is closed, the bypass tube is removed. The incision is closed on the surface with superglue (no external stitches) and a bandage is applied over the wound. Jeff says it feels like he was punched in the neck! Hard, several times!! He sees the surgeon for a post-op on 12/21.
