Surgery Day - A Friend's Perspective

Hello faithful followers! This is Carol's friend Tammy, checking in. I thought I'd take a few minutes to share my account of Carol's big day as she is busy recovering...

Well, the countdown clock to surgery day finally reached zero. At 3 am. I was on the road by 4 to pick up Carol for her big date. When I arrived she was ready to go, her thoughtfully packed bags in hand. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought she was headed to camp for a fun adventure. I won't try to speculate what was going on in her head, but to the outside world she was her normal calm self. We got to the hospital precisely at 5 and were met by a small group of loved ones. Carol was quickly whisked off to be prepped for surgery. After some time, we were allowed to sit with her as she waited. At one point a nurse came in and asked the inevitable question: "What are you having done today?" Without hesitation, Carol spouted off what sounded like a minimum of ten medical terms. For a moment I thought she might even include the CPT code. Even though I didn't understand a word of it, I knew she was spot on. Naturally the nurse appeared shocked commenting that most people respond with "something down here", but I'd expect nothing less from Carol. Finally at 8 o'clock, it was time. There was no hesitation, no sad face, no tears. Just a big high five and off she went. The rest of us reluctantly made our way to the waiting room where time stands still.

At 11:30, the surgeon finally brought the news we had been waiting for. We officially had "the best case scenario". Surgery went as planned, and there was zero sign of any remaining cancer in Carol's body. After a flurry of texts to share the good news, we went off to celebrate with Jack Daniel's burgers in Carol's honor before returning to the waiting area. Due to an unfortunately timed computer crash, there was a delay moving Carol to her private room, so we still had to wait until 4:30 to see her and get her settled. Turns out, she opted for a nerve block, which left her pain free and in very high spirits! We quickly set up a candy dish for the nurses, as well as posted her surgifesto for visitors to read. Before long, she was drifting off to sleep, so we left her to rest (with the Steelers game on!).

Although terribly long and exhausting, this day could not have gone any better. The surgeon warned us that the next three days would be "miserable", but they are standing by with all the pain meds and support she will need. He anticipates that sometime on Sunday, she will turn the corner and will rapidly improve and be anxious to get home. (I won't lie, she did suggest heading out already tonight, but I knew it was the meds talking.) I imagine tomorrow will be particularly tough with pain settling in as well as the adjustment to her new body changes. That said, I know Carol will once again triumph and remind us why she is an inspiration to all!