Surgical Success

Rob's Prostatectomy was performed today (da Vinci Robotic surgery) The surgeon is confident the cancer was contained within the prostate and had not spread. Everything went well and they think he may be able to come home tomorrow. YEAH!

Rob wasn't cleared for surgery until yesterday afternoon even though we have had the appointment for months. Talk about stress! He failed his EKG at the pre-op and needed to visit a cardiologist and ended up with a Nuclear Stress Test before he was cleared cardiologically. Of course, the cardiologist felt a mass in Rob's abdomen so he had a CAT scan yesterday morning. All tests came back negative.....so on to surgery at a moment's notice. Neither of us thought this would happen.

Do you remember having surgery in the olden days? You had an appointment for surgery and showed up and you stayed in the hospital until you were well enough to go home. Rob had a 4 hour pre-op urinary health class last week and returned home with about 10 lbs of directions and a video on catheter care. Yesterday, it was only clear fluids all day and he had to drink something special at 3 to clear the bowels.....and give himself an enema! He had to shower the night before and wipe the surgical area down with a special medicated cloth 1 hour after and wear clean pajamas to bed and do the whole wipe thing again this morning. How do idiots handle the 10 pages of directions? And don't even get me started on catheter care! A video? Do I look like a nurse? He will have a catheter for 8 days so it looks like I will learn.

I will keep everyone posted.

Nothing much going on....

1 -I am back to work...always sad...but only 9 more days until my 1st pay check since June.....always exciting.

2 - Last week I felt like Erika did several months ago when her appliances were dying around her. The computer has been in the shop for a week. Cafe.Net has always done a superb job on repairs buy this time they were stymied. The guy just kept repeating, "you know it's 8 years old." This time it wasn't the video card or the fan but the power switch. He jury-rigged the switch so it will turn on and stay on but it looks so bad. In order to run, the case can't be on. I will be shopping soon. I am thinking of a laptop for the portability but I hate those keyboards and the little screen. Decisions......

I received a letter from the Water Dept advising us that our reading showed a tremendous, out of the ordinary for us, water usage and that we should recheck the reading. The numbers corresponded and the toilets aren't running so where did all the water go?

I received a letter from Maytag letting me know that an electrical failure in the heating element of our dishwaher can cause a serious fire hazard. The solution? "Stop using the dishwasher immediately and disconnect the electrical supply and shut off the circuit breaker." I can call to schedule a free in home repair. Is that before the fire or after? Hopefully we will still have enough water to put out the fire since I haven't yet followed the directions.

3 - We received a package in the mail today...always exciting. Actually, I got home around 5:30 and the outgoing mail was still in the mailbox and I stomped around the house admonishing the mailman (using a myriad of stored up swear words since I was with kids today) for not walking up the steps to get the mail that was going out. About 8 tonight I opened the front door since the temp was dropping from our high of 90 and we had mail and a package! The white mailing bag was for Ian and from Syvertsen in Prague. Looked like Cyndy's handwriting but I thought it might have been Chris or Laura's too. Oh, the mystery. We went to Ithaca to visit Ian just yesterday, so I was kind of sad thinking he wouldn't be able to open it until Columbus Day. I texted Ian and he said, "OPEN IT!." Can you imagine how boring our lives are? The blue PRIORITAIRE stickers all over added to the mystery. The end of the bag was covered with tape bearing the message in bright red, " REWRAPPED - RESEALED- IN THE USPS - REWRAPPED." So exciting. Was this contraband? NO! Inside were 4 size small Hanes boxer briefs and a note," Ian - Tom says to tell you he only wore these a few times so they shouldn't be too stretched out. Haha. Cyndy & Tom." Very anticlimactic, although we all had a good laugh. When Ian was packing for school, I did make him look under his bed for boxers since it didn't look like he had enough. Who leaves 4 pairs of underwear? Who mails 4 pairs of underwear halfway across the world?

4 - Still haven't painted the guest room. I am waiting for inspiration.