On Wednesday I went to visit Dorothy in the hospital. I had hoped she would have her breathing tube out but was not prepared for what I walked in to. First off, I will explain a bit about how their ICU works there. You arrive at the correct floor and before ever getting to the ICU itself there is a room for visitors, all visitors report here where there are two telephones, a public access terminal via thin client and about 50 chairs. Not to mention a little tv/lounge area complete with a fish tank. Visitors are expected to dial a number on the phones and ask for permission to visit their relatives. This system is in place because there are two beds to a room and they are really strict on keeping dignity high. Meaning that you could walk into the room while someone is bleeding out through an artery or coding or even just having phisio therapy done, exposing them to the room they are in and it would make things very uncomfortable for both staff and visitors and possibly patient if they are conscious and awake.
So, I call as soon as I arrive and they tell me that she is not quite ready, they are working with her so I am to wait 5 minutes... 30 minutes pass I call back and they say yes she is ready now please come in. As I walk into the room "expecting to see her laying there all puffed up again from the trauma" I instead see her out of her bed and sitting in a lounge chair with no breating tube in, smiling ear to flippin' ear. She makes her attempt to say hello but it comes out sounding more like a hamster getting stepped on by a 240 pound man with a limp. Shaking my head in disbelief she offers her hand up in the air towards me and says "Timmies, need timmies!!!" hahahaha I burst out into laughter. Now I must remind you, we are talking about a lady who a little more than 48 hours prior had major life altering surgery. Double lung transplant that went extremely well but is still such severe trauma that most people endure complications beginning with the first 48 hours. For the next few minutes before the physio therapy people came in I talked with her and with the nurses permission promised I would return with a small timmies coffee. Still can't believe that she did that...
So off to the food court I go to give them a chance to do their physio, I talk to the chicken lady who is super excited about my mom's recovery. The chicken lady for those who do not know is the asian lady who works at the wing machine in Toronto General Hospital... I do not know her name, not because she hasn't told me but because of my sheer ignorance and lack of ability to pronounce her name. I wouldn't even attempt to reproduce it once I heard it the first time I had already given up. Anyhow, next step was to the coffee shop where I picked up the small timmies only this time. For the first time in our lives I had to ask for substitute sweetner because now my mom is a full blown diabetic and will be insulin dependant for the rest of her life. There are many miracle drugs that get people through this sort of thing but as part of the side effects, especially with the prednisone. You often become a diabetic.
I return to the room and witness the biggest smile I have ever seen, she is literally in withdrawl from the coffee she so much enjoyed daily in her pre transplant state. It was one of the things that started her engine every day and it has proved to be a the carrot in front of the cart post transplant. As I sit down and get ready to chat with my mom, the surgeon comes into the room and we have our emotional thank you etc with him humbly saying bah it was nothin'... just routine procedure... Then shortly after that a team of doctors, nurses and residents come in.. Apparently they were summoned by the nurse who was astounded at the leaps in recovery she has made. The nurse explains to the team while I'm in earshot that Dorothy has just gone for a walk. One of the obviously seasoned nurses there in her official sounding voice says "She was able to move around the room here? that's great for such a short time post" The nurse then exclaims in a high volume "NO! she walked through the entire ward, around the entire loop!" Assisted by two nurses who had an IV pole on each side and two blood drainage box, it would have looked more like a large tree that had been uprooted and placed on a truck bed now driving down the highway with all the roots and branches hitting things on the side of the road... WOW!
Subborn woman my mom is, and I know I can safely speak for my brother in saying that both of our families are so proud of her. And I am so very happy to have a brother to lean on in times like this. Life can be so stressful at times. This right now is an up time for my family and I, we are all on a natural high. And don't for one second think that we don't know something can go wrong... But as my brother and brother in law have always said, when it's there, take it!
You know, one of the greatest pieces of advice I have recieved in my life was from my older brother. My brother and I were as close as we could be being 4 years apart in age and burdened by ordinary family dysfunction. I think we have both come a long way from those days and we have been able to identify with each other on some level which has always been fantastic for me. I was applying for a job as a teenager and was so very frightened, I remember asking him how I was gonna get through it all and that I was scared. He said so simply to me and it just made no sense at all at first "Nothing is ever as difficult as it appears before you do it" After getting the job, and starting to work at it I realised what he meant by that... I wondered why I was so darn worried over nothing. Well the same has been true for every event in my life... Everything from becoming a father to walking beside my mother through her transplant journey. "Nothing is ever as difficult as it appears before you do it"
'nuff said!
Now I shall go take a hot bath and return to my comfortable pillows for a couple more hours of sleep...
Oh and I'm anxiously awaiting a call from a potential employer today! I could really use the work...
Cheers!
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