This morning, Justin and I headed to the surgery hospital for his knee surgery. We checked in, signed lots of papers, paid a bundle of money, then headed back with the nurse, who gave Justin a super-fancy warming gown and cute purple socks. Nurses came in and out, checking this and poking that, and then we met with the anesthesiologist, and then they kicked me out and wheeled him into the operating room.
I was surprised at my emotions. Last night I barely slept… I kept waking up, worried that we would sleep through our alarms, worried that Justin would get up and eat something in the middle of the night (he’s supposed to have an empty stomach), worried that they’d reschedule us again. And then today, when they wheeled him away, I felt like my heart went with him. I cried a little. I kept telling myself, “this is just knee surgery, people do it every day.” But I felt like I was handing him over to strangers who might not understand just how important he is, how if anything happened to him I might melt away.
So I waited in the lobby for a couple of hours, sipping coffee and playing computer games. Occasionally, this really friendly but kind of awkward man would come over and talk to me. I tried putting on my headphones, but he would still just come sit next to me and talk, as if I he didn’t realize I couldn’t hear him. One time he came over and asked me to look around in his eye, because he thought he had an eyelash or something stuck in it. It was weird.
I was finally paged to meet the doctor for a consultation, so of course I panicked. He was going to tell me they had to cut off Justin’s leg! He was going to tell me Justin was paralyzed! He was going to tell me they lost him! Of course, he just told me that everything went well and I should keep his leg elevated and I could see him in an hour.
When I was finally able to go to the recovery room and see him, I was so freakin’ happy. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see his smiling face. And being able to bring him home was even better.
So, he’s doing fine, just resting and keeping his leg elevated and taking his pain meds. And this otherwise uneventful medical procedure has reminded me just how important he is to me, and how much I love him.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for Justin. Now please excuse me while I adjust his pillows. 🙂
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