Category: Jack

The News at 4:30 AM

What do all good wives do when they have just had the most exhausting day worrying about their husbands, and then go back to their motel rooms expecting to sleep all night long? Yes, they wake up at 4 AM worrying about the big guy!

I woke with a start, and got up and turned on the lights. Fritz and Greta immediately got up and wanted to go out. So I got on my jacket and took them out back for a nice long walk. They both rewarded me with “great” things.
Then we came back in and I called the nurses station to check on Hubby. His nurse told me that he is sleeping well, and hasn’t had any more nausea tonight. I’m glad.
I’m glad that one of us is sleeping!
So, there I was feeling like a lost puppy. I got some water in my mug and made myself a nice hot cup of tea.
In my family, when anything went wrong, or someone was sad, worried, mad or sick, we always made tea. There is something so soothing about that for me. I think it’s generations of my ancestor’s smiling down on each sip, stroking me to sooth my soul.
Many years ago when my grandmother was very ill, and we knew that her time with us would end soon, my sister and I and our daughter’s all got together with a big pot of tea and a tin of special cookies and had a tea party. We sat on Grandma’s bed, drinking tea, eating cookies, (no one worried about crumbs) and talked. I can still see my grandmother’s happy face and hear her sweet old lady laugh as we had our tea.
That was the last time I spent with Grandma, and that memory is oh, so sweet!

My plans for today is to have a nice breakfast here at the motel. Then drive to the food co-op nearby and get a lunch salad for myself, and maybe a treat. (stress eating) Then go over to the hospital and spend the day with Hubby. I’ll go down every couple of hours to walk and water the dogs.
I imagine Hubby will sleep a good part of the day, but I do know they will be getting him up and making him use the crutches to get around.
Tonight is “get a real meal” night for me. I’ll see what they have at the co-op (they have such a great deli, and ready made food section there, including lot’s of great cheeses!).

So that’s the news, at 4:30 AM here in New Hampshire. I think another cup of tea is definitely in order!

Hubby’s Surgery

Well, all is said and done, and the operation is over. They were able to remove the cysts from Hubby’s leg, repair the artificial knee and do some repair work to the tibia and fibula with bone grafts. It took over three hours and I was on my last finger nail when the doctor came out to speak with me. He told me how important it is to keep Hubby quiet and OFF that leg for the next six weeks. I told him I had my handy dandy club in the car to hit Hubby over the head with to keep him down!
I have decided that I do not wait well. All during Hubby’s surgery I was in the “Surgical Waiting Room“.The clocks don’t move in that room the way they do in “real life”! A minute is an hour and an hour is an eternity! I was going insane!
Eventually I stopped trying to be alone and started talking to strangers. Yes, that’s me. Picking up strangers in the surgical waiting room. What I found was, there were others like me. Nervous, exhausted people waiting for some small word from the O.R. I had one nice chat with a woman who simply hates my eye surgeon. Dr. C. Now I adore him, but I could see her point. He is not the sort of doctor that is going to be your best buddy. However, he is truly a gifted surgeon.
Then I spoke with a woman whose husband was having brain surgery. We got along really well, and before I knew it, we were laughing and talking like we were old pals. We kept each other company until Hubby was out of surgery and needed me.
I’m off to bed now and then up early tomorrow to get back to the hospital to take care of my guy.

Under The Knife

***Updated***

So who didn’t sleep last night? Who is awake and a nervous wreck? You guessed it. Me! Well, at least Hubby will have fun today. He plans to watch the entire knee event. Yes, the doctor gave him permission to stay awake through the whole thing. I’m guessing the doctor doesn’t know how much Hubby can talk! LOL!
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Hubby. We go to the hospital at 8:15 AM and his surgery is scheduled for 10:15. So everyone out there in Cyberland, say a little prayer that all will go well for my sweetie.
I’m going to be doing what all good wives do when their spouses are under the knife. I’ll be sitting in a waiting room, either on my computer, or reading or crocheting and probably drinking coffee. Since I don’t know which will provide me with a good mindless distraction, I will have my backpack with me with all three, and a thermos of coffee.
I’ll be posting Wednesday night with the results of his surgery, and I’ll be trying to get a little blurb up each day, but I’m afraid that I won’t be visiting my favorite sights for a couple of days. So please forgive me ahead of time.
Well, we’re off!

How I met Hubby # 2

Many years ago when Mandy was 6, and Katie was 4, my ex-husband and I took the girls to a pizza place for kids called, “Chuck E Cheeses“. They had this play area for the kids, pizza and beer for the adults. While my ex and I were finishing up the pizza, the girls went off to play on the equipment. A while later they came back to the table and had a little blonde girl with them. Her name was Jessica and she was 4 1/2. But Jessica was very grown up and quite precocious! She wanted to exchange phone numbers so the kids could have play dates. We knew where she lived, as her parents had a local apple orchard where we’d actually gone to pick apples and get cider. (They had the best cider!) I went over and met Jessica’s mother, we exchanged phone numbers and as promised, a few days later Jessica came to our house to play.
The kids had a few more play dates. Mostly it was Mandy that went to Jessica’s. Jess, really was older for her age and got along better with Mandy. But when they were all with me, the three played very well.
One snowy day, shortly after that, I got a call. Jessica’s father was taking her to The Boston Museum of Science and could Mandy go? It was snowing and I was a little nervous about that. I asked to speak to Jess’s father. He assured me that the snow was due to stop and he was fine to drive the kids. I decided that it was okay.
A while later a car drove up to our place and Jessica and a very tall man ( 6 feet 4 inches!) got out and came to our door. He was blonde too and it wasn’t difficult to see who Jessica looked like. She was the spitting image of her Dad. He smiled and I guess I must have smiled too. He seemed very nice. Mandy got her coat on and I watched from the door as they drove off in the snow.
Hubby recalls, that I was tall, (I’m 5 feet 8 inches) and thin, (at 24 I weighed about 115! Man those days are long gone!) and my waist length hair was a pretty, natural light brown. He said I looked like a hippy, which back when I was 24 was probably true.
So, we were both married to other people. Had no interest in each other, except our kids, and from that we grew to know each other as friends.
It’s funny how when you look back and think about the very first time you met someone, the one person that you will eventually find is your soul mate, you can have absolutely no idea. Hubby and I didn’t “fall in love” for many years after that. But, that is another story.