Mom's surgery was one week ago today. It was a very long day. Surgery started about 2 hours later than planned. Then she was in there about 2-1/2 hours. The doctor did not find what she expected (tears in the rotator cuff); instead she found a bone spur that had sliced the shoulder muscle and laid it open. Luckily, it was still anchored on both ends, so she was able to file the bone spur off, clean it up and sew the muscle back together. The bad part is the muscle is so deteriorated that she doesn't expect it to last. She thinks the muscle has been in bad shape for much longer than originally thought, but indicated that only time will tell if Mom needs shoulder replacement or not.
Mom seemed to be doing really well about an hour later when we were allowed in to see her. I had to break the news to her that she will be immobilized in a sling contraption with a stress ball attached for 4-6 weeks. No driving allowed. She was not a happy camper. But over the past week, I think (I hope!) she has come to understand why she won't be allowed to drive for awhile. The immobilizer is pretty inflexible, and the pain she's experienced when she's tried to move should make her behave.
Dad was very emotional Monday but got through the day. Wednesday I took him to the oral surgeon to follow up from his ER visit on Friday. He seemed to be having a pretty good day as far as being coherent. The oral surgeon was also running late - we waited an hour to be seen. Luckily the problem was easily diagnosed and we scheduled the extraction for Friday. When we first arrived, they told us the primary care doctor would work us in while we were there so we didn't have to make a return trip that afternoon. Primary care doctor says everything looks good - blood pressure was back to normal, blood work looked good. He did suggest a colonoscopy, which did not go over well with Dad.
Wednesday night Mom had a rough night - she was in more pain than before. She was only taking the pain meds as she needed them, not keeping them in her system around the clock as she should have been. Once you get to that point, it takes some time for the pain meds to work their magic and make you feel human again. Mom's high pain tolerance was helpful; she was feeling better by Thursday evening.
Friday Dad had his tooth extracted and it didn't take as long as expected. I'm glad that's over with! And I'm hoping the next week brings improvement for Mom in her pain.
The best part of Friday was Daughter drove in her first stock car race! The Referee was more than a little nervous about that. It's one thing for her to drive her stock car on the track with only one or two other cars, but seeing her out there with 6-8 other cars at once? Cars with more experienced drivers, driving faster laps? The butterflies in my stomach were just plain vicious. She did very well for first race. She didn't finish last in her heat because another guy spun, and she didn't wreck anybody! It was a good night!
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