A long night at St Mike's

It was Thursday night after dinner when Norm started feeling pains in his stomach. We thought it must have been something he ate. Friday morning he went to work even though the pain persisted (stubborn boy) because he is dedicated to his patients. Luckily, his second patient cancelled and he made his way to the Dr's office. By this time he had diagnosed himself with having appendicitis because of the sharp pain in his lower right abdomen. The Dr confirmed his diagnosis and ordered him to go to ER. I met him in ER at 3:30 pm where they took blood work and monitored his pain. They were not convinced that it was indeed appendicitis because he was missing symptoms such as fever and vomiting so they decided to give him a CAT scan. Poor Norm. While we were waiting for the results to come back, I was close enough to the nursing station to hear everything. I heard the phone ring and someone asked to speak to the Doctor...it was radiology on line. I knew it had to be about Norm even though Emerg was fully packed. The Dr got on the phone and after a series of "yeah, uh-huh, yeah" she got off the phone and asked the nurses to call OR for "bed 17". I looked to see what our bed number was. It was 17. My body went numb and although I didn't want to show my fear, Norm can read me like a book. We weren't prepared for an operation. We were hoping it would be just gas and they would give him drugs and send him home. Instead, we were preparing for an operation. It was almost 12 midnight and we're still in ER. There were a lot of traumas that came in that night and were seen as more urgent so Norm was pushed back a couple of times. Soon they found us a room on the 9th floor so at least we can get some piece and quiet and so Norm can rest. We get to our room, get comfy, turn off the lights and try to sleep until we were awaken by the surgeon at 2:30 am. It's showtime. They wheeled him up to OR as I paced back and forth in the room. 5 o'clock came and at that time I went to the nursing station and asked why he wasn't back yet. She said he was probably in Recovery and they would bring him back up once his vitals are okay. You probably can guess what I was thinking - his vitals? does that mean he's not okay? At 5:30 I heard the elevator doors open and saw him waving from his bed...I got teary eyed. The worse part was over. I let him get some rest but I still couldn't sleep. The nurses said he had to practice on his deep breathing and start walking otherwise his lungs may collapse. Did I really need to hear that? Anyway, I'm happy to say he's doing well and is being released today. I'm getting ready to go there but first, I have to make a quick stop. I need to go to church. I have a lot to be thankful for.