Dancing to Jimmy Buffet (3/7/05)

What a week! Monday I was worried sick, Tuesday my brother and I were wandering the hospital halls with no idea how to get back to the waiting room, Wednesday I was dancing in the kitchen to a Jimmy Buffett CD while doing the dishes and today I had to track down my mother.

Mom’s knee replacement surgery last week went well. The surgeon said that the new parts fit perfectly. He outlined some of what to expect in the days and months to come.

My brother and I were ordered by a nurse to go get something to eat while Mom was in recovery. We found the cafeteria easily enough but on the way back we took several wrong turns. We opened one doorway to find a bevy of nurses all pushing empty beds at top speed. I think they were having races or something. We kept walking only to reach a dead end and we had to turn around and go back. Who makes hallways with dead ends?

We found a lot of doors that commanded us not to enter. We passed a laboratory. I thought I saw the Bride of Frankenstein in there but I can’t be sure. We began wondering how long we could wander the halls before someone demanded to know why we were giggling. It was only by sheer luck that we found our way back to the proper waiting room.

Mom had a rough day but what do you expect when someone has just sawed parts of her bones away, and drilled holes in other parts? She slept most of the afternoon.

We prowled the gift shop for a break from the tension. We got flowers for her only to find that their cash register was on the fritz.

The day after surgery Mom felt much better. This was due in part to all the painkillers she was taking but also to the relief that the operation was over. I was so happy for her that only Jimmy Buffett would do while I did the dishes that night. Unfortunately I got the song, “Cheeseburger in Paradise” stuck in my head the rest of the week. This wouldn’t have been so bad except that is the only part of the tune I know. So for three days those three words kept repeating themselves over and over until I never want to hear them again.

I called Mom at lunch today to see how she was feeling. No answer. This is not surprising as she can’t hear the phone ring. She can tell it rings by the light on the side of it. I finally got the nurses’ station and the nurse told me that Mom had left. This startled me. Just yesterday she couldn’t walk and today she left?

I am used to my mother surprising me. This is a woman who never goes anywhere that we don’t take her. She hasn’t driven by herself for years. Since her knees became so painful she doesn’t even go to the Senior Center or get on the van they provide. Yet, we can never take her anywhere that someone doesn’t stop and chat with her.

She doesn’t hear her telephone ring half the time and if it is daylight she doesn’t notice that the lamp we have hooked to the telephone is blinking. Still, she has several old ladies who call her every day and lots of others who call once in awhile. She talks to more people in 24 hours than I do in a week.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised when they said she left her room. It turned out that she had been transferred to the rehab unit. From what I hear she will come to realize this is a torture chamber where she will have to do lots of exercises to strengthen her muscles and learn to use her new knee.

It will be worth it in the end as this procedure is supposed to alleviate much of the pain she has felt due to her arthritis. I am looking forward to Mom getting home safely and walking on her own without hurting. I hope that someday soon I will again be dancing to Jimmy Buffett and this roller coaster of emotion will be over.

[[In-content Ad]]