Surgery

The surgery for Dad's hernias is rapidly approaching and I'm a little weary. This is one of my first forays into the world of outpatient surgery but already I don't much like what I see. We were able to schedule a day for the surgery, but for some reason known only to themselves, they were unable to tell me the time of the procedure. They will call me the day before and tell me whether its morning or afternoon. I'm hoping it isn't morning as Dad doesn't do that well in the morning, although, considering he won't have eaten since the night before, maybe morning would be better.

Another annoying thing was the need to schedule a pre-anesthesia appointment. I don't know what they are going to do exactly to test his capacity to handle anesthesia but I don't know why they couldn't do it at the first appointment. It just means dragging poor Dad out to yet another appointment, although I think he actually enjoys being out in the car. Either way, lots of appointments.

We've been lucky so far not to have to do all of this medical stuff, due to Dad's amazing health, but I think our luck may be about to run out. I see a year faced with a lot more trips to the doctor, and potentially more surgeries, which doesn't make me happy, nor will Dad enjoy it, I'm sure. More medical decisions to make for Dad, made even harder by the fact that were he lucid, he would choose against them all. I'm thinking my schedule will need to be even more flexible as his immune system continues to wither, and I feel for him, all of this poking and prodding, this humiliating stuff happening to him, all things he would never choose and never want and be embarrassed by. It's hard to watch, as I"m sure many of our community know and understand.