Gallbladder Surgery

On Wednesday, my mom continued to have tests and it was discovered she had a really bad gallbladder that needed to be removed. The first words out of her mouth were I want to go to Amarillo.

Thursday morning we met with the doctor and stated the desire to transfer to Amarillo. He said that was fine and he would start those arrangements. I asked him if he thought it would be afternoon before that happened and he said, "at best." I explained I was taking my kids to the airport but I would be back by 1:00 p.m. He said all these things take time and that won't be a problem.

I left for Amarillo in sister-in-law's van and left her sitting with my mom. I wasn't five miles from the hospital when Janet called and said they were completing the transfer papers. Over the next hour and a half, Janet and I talked several times on the phone. My phone was ringing as much as Marc's does when we are in Honduras. We decided I would stay in Amarillo and she would drive my mom's car over. Fortunately, I thought to leave the keys with her.

We still thought we had more time than we really had. I had to leave the airport about thirty minutes sooner than I had planned. Not being there with my mother when she was put in the ambulance and leaving Janet to deal with it and pack all of my mom's stuff and my stuff added to the already conflicting emotions swirling around with Matt and Nicole leaving. Of course, Janet is perfectly capable to do all these things, it's just not her mother. Or for that matter, even a relative. And we all know if I had wanted the transfer to be complete before noon, it would have not been complete until late afternoon.

I hugged the kids and headed for the hospital. I beat the ambulance and did all the admitting before she arrived. That helped. Janet got here about an hour after the ambulance. And we traded car keys and showed each other where the cars were parked.

My mother's surgeon is a trauma surgeon. It was a couple of hours before we were able to see him. He decided that gallbladder needed to come out and the sooner the better. He said it would be this morning, but didn't give us a time until last night.

For the third night in a row, I stayed in the hospital with my mom. Last night, she had a really bad night. I was thinking about 2:30 neither of us would get any sleep, but we both went to sleep shortly after that and got some pretty good rest.

This morning she was sick again. It was bad.

Surgery started pretty much on time. Her gallbladder was enflamed to almost three times its normal size and the surgeon had to do a full cut. He had hoped to use a laproscope. Mom came through the surgery fine. She is back in her room full of pain meds, and resting not so comfortably.

Please keep my mom in your prayers. With the full cut, she has a longer recovery than we had hoped for.

Terri