Today - Wednesday 5/19/10

Just a quick post before I head off to bed.


Gerry and I spent the day at Mercy General Hospital in downtown Sacramento today. No, not for either of us. A very dear friend, Tom Riddle had a triple bypass this morning. His surgery was scheduled for between 6am and 6:30 am. He actually was taken into surgery about 6:55am. Gerry and I got there a little after 9am.


Different staff people came during the course of the morning to let the family know what to expect. About 1pm the doctor came out and spoke to Nancy, Tom's wife; his mother and four of their kids that the surgery had gone well. He told them they would be able to see Tom in just a little while. It was taking quite a while and so the family had the volunteer check and see what the holdup was about. Tom's nurse came out to talk to the family and told them they were having a difficult time getting Tom settled. He had come to a lot quicker than they anticipated and he was not tolerating the breathing tube that was inserted in his mouth. He kept thrashing about, they upped his medication a little and it was not helping. After about 2 hours of more waiting, the family was finally able to go in to see him. However, they were only able to be there for a few minutes because Tom was so agitated with having the tube in his mouth. The nurse told the family that they were afraid to remove the tube too soon because he could still have some of the anesthesia in his system. If they removed the tube too soon, he would possibly not be able to breathe on his own. Finally, the nurse came out and said they were going to remove the tube and she would be back out to get them. They were able to go back in, this time he was fighting the oxygen mask and when they removed that, he calmed down and went to sleep.


Nancy went in to see him for a few minutes before we all left the hospital. By this time it was after 5pm. She said he was calmer and sleeping. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better time for them when they go down to see him. We'll go down to see him after he is able to have visitors. Right now they are restricting visits to family only.


After we left the hospital, we stopped at Arigato Sushi for some dinner then went to Whole Foods before coming home.


We are not able to pull into our carport for a couple of days. Yesterday there were workmen in the park cutting lines in the concrete at some of the side street intersections in our mobile home park. Then this morning they had machinery cutting up the concrete and pouring new concrete. Since our space is at a corner, we had to move both vans out of our carport. When we came home tonight, the intersections they worked on are all blocked off.


The one nice thing about this work is that it is very quiet out there tonight. There is so much traffic at our corner. Some people think it is the Indianapolis Speedway out there.


I am off to bed now. It has been a long day and I'm tired. I took my Nook with me today and was able to read quite a bit. :)