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In San Antonio
May. 16th, 2009 10:55 pmAfter a very long day of flying the bus of the sky, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cuddlyeconomist and I made it to Texas to see my mom in the hospital. The SeaTac airport was a madhouse full of eldery couples heading home after their cruise. The flight itself stopped in Vegas, so the leg from Seattle to Vegas was full of partiers getting amp'd up. We had a flight attendant who was a commedian and apparently a fratboy who did some amusing stuff and did some very strange stuff likely in violation of FAA regulation if not outright illegal. At least it made the time go by faster. The leg from Vegas to San Antonio was more somber, probably because it was full of people who were now broke.
My brother picked us up in a rental, and he himself had a flying adventure getting here with next-day flights. He was supposed to fly into Austin then drive down in the afternoon, but ended up being diverted to Houston to refuel after a lengthy loiter due to weather. The whole ordeal added 4 hours of flying time to his day, and he basically hit town when we did.
Dad met us at the base Vistor's Center and got us all passes for a few days. Mom has worked at Wilford hall for decades in the CICU, so the entire staff knows her personally. She's scared out of her mind awaiting what she knows is major surgery, and with bad veins is having to get stuck multiple times every few hours for blood draws and getting fresh IV lines. Dad is stressed out hugely, and my parents have never been any good at asking for help. I think my job this week is mostly going to be getting Dad to try to relax, as well as keeping Mom distracted from clockwatching.
Everyone is worried about the risks of anesthesia and getting off the ventilator post surgery. The procedure is somewhat routine, and they believe they can avoid the full bypass. Still, she has just about every risk factor there is for this operation: asthma, diabetes, and a long-standing heart condition (she got a viral infection in the lining of her heart 20+ years ago and has been on heart meds ever since). They had originally scheduled the surgery for Monday, but since they had tried angioplasty first they want to wait a few more days for some of those drugs to process out so they moved it to Wednesday. They will do it emergency-style if need be, and that uncertainty is adding to the stress.
The procedure itself will be done at Bamsey, as will the recovery. Right now Wilford is more comfortable and familiar, but through various ‘cost savings’ changes over the past several years the military is transferring this stuff over to Bamsey and remaking Wilford hall into some kind of outpatient thing. How much access we’ll have once she is over at Bamsey is another unknown.
The plan so far is for Todd and I to stay in Texas until she is out of the surgery and off the ventilator, maybe until she is awake enough to say hi, then head back home. The recovery is going to be a long one, so we’ll probably come visit again in a month or so once she’s a bit recovered.
cuddlyeconomist and I made it to Texas to see my mom in the hospital. The SeaTac airport was a madhouse full of eldery couples heading home after their cruise. The flight itself stopped in Vegas, so the leg from Seattle to Vegas was full of partiers getting amp'd up. We had a flight attendant who was a commedian and apparently a fratboy who did some amusing stuff and did some very strange stuff likely in violation of FAA regulation if not outright illegal. At least it made the time go by faster. The leg from Vegas to San Antonio was more somber, probably because it was full of people who were now broke.My brother picked us up in a rental, and he himself had a flying adventure getting here with next-day flights. He was supposed to fly into Austin then drive down in the afternoon, but ended up being diverted to Houston to refuel after a lengthy loiter due to weather. The whole ordeal added 4 hours of flying time to his day, and he basically hit town when we did.
Dad met us at the base Vistor's Center and got us all passes for a few days. Mom has worked at Wilford hall for decades in the CICU, so the entire staff knows her personally. She's scared out of her mind awaiting what she knows is major surgery, and with bad veins is having to get stuck multiple times every few hours for blood draws and getting fresh IV lines. Dad is stressed out hugely, and my parents have never been any good at asking for help. I think my job this week is mostly going to be getting Dad to try to relax, as well as keeping Mom distracted from clockwatching.
Everyone is worried about the risks of anesthesia and getting off the ventilator post surgery. The procedure is somewhat routine, and they believe they can avoid the full bypass. Still, she has just about every risk factor there is for this operation: asthma, diabetes, and a long-standing heart condition (she got a viral infection in the lining of her heart 20+ years ago and has been on heart meds ever since). They had originally scheduled the surgery for Monday, but since they had tried angioplasty first they want to wait a few more days for some of those drugs to process out so they moved it to Wednesday. They will do it emergency-style if need be, and that uncertainty is adding to the stress.
The procedure itself will be done at Bamsey, as will the recovery. Right now Wilford is more comfortable and familiar, but through various ‘cost savings’ changes over the past several years the military is transferring this stuff over to Bamsey and remaking Wilford hall into some kind of outpatient thing. How much access we’ll have once she is over at Bamsey is another unknown.
The plan so far is for Todd and I to stay in Texas until she is out of the surgery and off the ventilator, maybe until she is awake enough to say hi, then head back home. The recovery is going to be a long one, so we’ll probably come visit again in a month or so once she’s a bit recovered.
