Grandma's hospital stay

Grandma has had less than a wonderful week. It all started Tuesday when she entered St. Luke's Meridian to have a partial thyroidectomy to remove the middle and right side of her thyroid. We checked in and Kim was settled and as ready for the surgery as she could be. The procedure itself took approximately 2 hours and went very well, according to Dr. Garner. When the staff brought her up to her room she was awake and itching to go home. NOT!! She was experiencing some pain and was very tired. Unfortunately the hospital was not quiet and medical personnel disturbed her just about every hour. How can a person get any rest with blood being drawn and blood pressures etc?? We were in a holding pattern waiting for calcium level updates. Wednesday morning we received the good word for the doc and Kim was able to come home.

Both of us felt good about the surgery knew that our lives would go back to normal. We didn't forget, in the hazy background of our minds, there was still a diagnosis pending. Still we felt good about everything and didn't expect any surprising news. Kim called me on Thursday letting me know that Dr. Garner had called and the news was not good. The nodes on the right side of her thyroid showed papillary carcinoma. Dr. Garner wanted to schedule a second surgery as quickly as possible to remove the rest of her thyroid. Friday afternoon, after a wonderful couple hours at the mall with Kendra, Eden and Bo, we were back on the second floor of the hospital waiting for surgery number two to begin.

The second surgery, again, took about two hours. Dr. Garner let me know everything had gone very smoothly and everything looked good. I think Kim was experiencing a little more pain this second time and was more tired. Who wouldn't be after 2 surgeries in 4 days. The wait for calcium levels commenced. Our one night stay morphed into a 2 night stay.....yes, I am writing this from room 510 sitting by the bedside of my beautiful bride. We will have to wait until 0600 tomorrow to see if she gets to come home.

Kim did have me bring my camera so I could snap a shot of the lovely gauze jewelry that Dr. Garner so generously provided. However, she has not let me snap that award winning photo yet. She keeps saying that her hair doesn't look good. Who is she kidding? She has her pearl earrings in and looks beautiful to me. I may have to snap a shot of her while she slumbers to share with our family and closest friends. Wait....I may want to rethink that idea. I don't know what repercussions may follow such a daring deed. After all, my lovely bride has been needle poked and prodded for most of the week. We will keep you posted on the further adventures of Grandma and Grandpa Wood's encounter with this nasty demon invader.