Going Home
Nicolas and I arrived back at his apartment at the same time after seeing Wes. Nicolas parked his truck and got into the Blazer so that we could go and find supper. It was 8:00 in the evening and we were both exhausted. I asked Nic if he would be OK with it if we could just go to Superstore instead of a restaurant. We wandered around the store with our arms full of fruit, cheese, bread and meat and oh yeah, mayo...trust a young bachelor to still have the same mayo I bought him almost 3 years ago when he moved to Winnipeg!
We talked as we drove back to his apartment both content with the results we had seen of Wes' surgery.
I made sandwiches and Nic got the rest of the food set out and as we ate we watched HGTV (I love home makeover shows) and every once in a while we would comment about how good dad/Wes looked and I climbed into bed that night to have a more restful night than I had had in a long time.
The next morning I thought I would be at the hospital bright and early. I was there by 8:30a.m. but they were already in process of discharging him. Now I will share with you what I saw when I got there and then I will tell you what Wes finally confessed to a few days later.
I was on my way to the Step Down Unit, quite proud of myself that I had remembered my way there. The joke is that it didn't matter where we went in HSC I always turned the wrong way and Wes would look at me, shake his head and say "And I'm the one with the tumour!"
As I was making my way down the hall (alright, I will confess, I accidentally took the wrong elevators, I landed up in an area I had never been before and I don't think its an area that anyone without a badge is supposed to be in, before I finally made it back to where Wes should be. OK, I will also confess that it took two people to bring me to that area...ah but I digress...)
As I was walking down the hallway I heard my name and there was Wes already in a room on the ward sitting and waiting for me. He was holding his finger on his hand where his IV had been and I couldn't believe it that they had not even given him a gauze or bandage for it. There was blood all over and the bloody IV was laying on his little table, I thought 'This is pathetic!'
OK, so here is what really happened.
I have since found out that the morning that he was discharged Wes took out his own IV because he got tired of waiting for the nurse to come back and do it.
Then I find out that he was travelling up and down the elevator the morning after surgery looking for his clothes! They were discharging him so fast even his clothes hadn’t arrived out of the day surgery pre-op unit yet! He passed his neuro surgeon coming out of the elevator that morning and the doctor just looked at him with surprise and said “Oh my!” Wes greeted him and went trucking back into the elevator to go to the third floor to find his bag of clothes.
By the time that I got there he had arrived back in his room, still without his bag of clothes and was waiting for his prescription and discharge papers when I walked by. I fed him some of the hospital breakfast and after a few spoonfuls he decided it really didn't taste very good at all and so I offered to take him to Perkins.
We finally got a hold of his clothes and after he changed into them we walked out and headed for the nearest Perkins. After having breakfast we went back to Nic's apartment and while Wes was supposed to be resting (I also found out later that he was making phone calls, letting people know how he was doing!) I went to fill the prescriptions. I was a little taken aback by the amount of pills and so when the girl asked if I would like to speak to a pharmacist I very quickly agreed.
She explained that the Dilantin was for seizures and he would be on that for three months and the other prescription was for brain swelling.
I had been feeling so upbeat and positive, but when I stood at the counter and stared at those bottles the tears started to flow and I looked at the young woman speaking and said "So, this is now our life..." She looked down and very quietly said "I know, I'm so sorry." I thanked her for her help and took my hundred dollar bag of pills and walked back to the apartment, packed up our stuff and carried it to the Blazer and we went home.
Though so many things were good...we both knew that nothing would ever really be the same again, we would never be the same.
Wes resting at home
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him." Daniel 2:20-22
We talked as we drove back to his apartment both content with the results we had seen of Wes' surgery.
I made sandwiches and Nic got the rest of the food set out and as we ate we watched HGTV (I love home makeover shows) and every once in a while we would comment about how good dad/Wes looked and I climbed into bed that night to have a more restful night than I had had in a long time.
The next morning I thought I would be at the hospital bright and early. I was there by 8:30a.m. but they were already in process of discharging him. Now I will share with you what I saw when I got there and then I will tell you what Wes finally confessed to a few days later.
I was on my way to the Step Down Unit, quite proud of myself that I had remembered my way there. The joke is that it didn't matter where we went in HSC I always turned the wrong way and Wes would look at me, shake his head and say "And I'm the one with the tumour!"
As I was making my way down the hall (alright, I will confess, I accidentally took the wrong elevators, I landed up in an area I had never been before and I don't think its an area that anyone without a badge is supposed to be in, before I finally made it back to where Wes should be. OK, I will also confess that it took two people to bring me to that area...ah but I digress...)
As I was walking down the hallway I heard my name and there was Wes already in a room on the ward sitting and waiting for me. He was holding his finger on his hand where his IV had been and I couldn't believe it that they had not even given him a gauze or bandage for it. There was blood all over and the bloody IV was laying on his little table, I thought 'This is pathetic!'
OK, so here is what really happened.
I have since found out that the morning that he was discharged Wes took out his own IV because he got tired of waiting for the nurse to come back and do it.
Then I find out that he was travelling up and down the elevator the morning after surgery looking for his clothes! They were discharging him so fast even his clothes hadn’t arrived out of the day surgery pre-op unit yet! He passed his neuro surgeon coming out of the elevator that morning and the doctor just looked at him with surprise and said “Oh my!” Wes greeted him and went trucking back into the elevator to go to the third floor to find his bag of clothes.
By the time that I got there he had arrived back in his room, still without his bag of clothes and was waiting for his prescription and discharge papers when I walked by. I fed him some of the hospital breakfast and after a few spoonfuls he decided it really didn't taste very good at all and so I offered to take him to Perkins.
We finally got a hold of his clothes and after he changed into them we walked out and headed for the nearest Perkins. After having breakfast we went back to Nic's apartment and while Wes was supposed to be resting (I also found out later that he was making phone calls, letting people know how he was doing!) I went to fill the prescriptions. I was a little taken aback by the amount of pills and so when the girl asked if I would like to speak to a pharmacist I very quickly agreed.
She explained that the Dilantin was for seizures and he would be on that for three months and the other prescription was for brain swelling.
I had been feeling so upbeat and positive, but when I stood at the counter and stared at those bottles the tears started to flow and I looked at the young woman speaking and said "So, this is now our life..." She looked down and very quietly said "I know, I'm so sorry." I thanked her for her help and took my hundred dollar bag of pills and walked back to the apartment, packed up our stuff and carried it to the Blazer and we went home.
Though so many things were good...we both knew that nothing would ever really be the same again, we would never be the same.
Wes resting at home"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him." Daniel 2:20-22
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