February 3, 2024
Day 2 A.S. – Evening
We had not slept well the night of surgery, so I went over to the hotel late morning and slept for about an hour while David tried to snooze back at the 581. The silence back at the hotel was so nice. I snuggled down into bed and about 15 mins in, the housekeepers decided to have a vacuuming and yelling down the hall competition. David said he slept a little in between people coming in and out. I could have slept for days but felt guilty even laying down for that long. I have this feeling of missing stuff when I am not there, so I showered and grabbed clean clothes for the night and went back to the hospital. After David had dinner, I went and grabbed some Panera from downstairs and brought it back to the room. We watched a little TV, got handed off to the night nurses, went to bed and chair around 10. We dozed off and one between people coming in and out for vitals and medicines. I feel weird sleeping with people coming in and out and I feel like I shouldn’t be asleep if he isn’t. Not sure if anyone else feels like that or I am just weird. Anyway, I guess sleep over took me for a little while because the next thing I knew, I heard a man’s voice. Not loud but enough to think, we don’t have a male nurse. It was then I heard, “psssttt. pssstttt. psssstttt. hey!” I startled awake to see David staring down at me from the opening in the handrail on the hospital bed with pillow cocked back in mid air. He said “I have to go to pee, now!” Did I mention I had forgot to leave his little urinal thing within reach in case he had to go quickly? So I jumped up, got tangled in the blanket, and slid around the side of the bed like I was sliding into home. He was trying to do the elbow roll thing to sit up that PT taught him while getting tangled in all of the IV and oxygen lines. Because I had blocked out the sun with my towel invention, the room was very dark. He finally got to his feet trying to not drop the O2 monitor while I was helping get the IV stand rolling. That is when I realized the pain pump was still plugged into the wall. I ran back to grab it before we were snatched backwards like in a cartoon and we skidded around the bed to the bathroom. I had to pick up the stand to get it over the thresh hold and thought I was in the clear until he couldn’t get his shorts down because he was holding the O2 monitor and also the IV pole for balance. I yanked down his shorts milliseconds before he made it rain. I closed the door and sat a minute trying to catch my breath. I swear he peed for 7 minutes. His bladder was way full. So I helped him back in bed and while we tried to settle in, it dawned on me. I asked “were you about to smack me with that pillow to wake me up?” He said “Hell yes I was because you didn’t hear me”. It started as a giggle then we nearly passed out from laughing. Him more than I since laughing, coughing or breathing can be excrutiating at this point. We finally settled down when the nurse came in. 5 South 81 is right next to the nurses’ station, so we assumed she was coming to see what the commotion was. She just sort of asked was everything ok and we began to tell her and then like kids at a slumber party, we all three were rolling with laughter.