Week 228 Update

It was 05:55, and 38° when I stepped on Mr. Scale and he said, "186.0 pounds!" No gain and no loss. Now that is maintenance. J

Oh what a week! I need a month or two sabbatical to reset my system and "recharge my batteries." My reserves are low and stressors continue to come along at a fast pace. Right now my main focus is getting Dotti back on her feet after her surgery, and the rest will have to wait its turn.

Here's my week in review:

Saturday - A free weekend with no obligations. It was overdue! I weighed-in at 186.0 pounds. I did my update and then Dotti and I decided to take a walk over to Jamba Juice for lunch. It is exactly 1.5 miles from our door to theirs, and so it is a nice way to get in 3.0 miles. We had lovely weather, with blue skies and a temperature of 65°. It was a pleasant walk together, and everything was perfect except for one thing: Jamba Juice was closed. It had been sold to another company, and there was a sign on the door that indicated the new owners would be opening soon, under a different name, but still producing "smoothies."

Dotti has been doing absolutely perfectly on her program lately. Now, here we were, mouths all watering for a fruity smoothie, after walking a mile and a half to get there, and there was a Starbucks right next door. Dotti loves a number of the Starbucks offerings, and it was looking really tempting. (Actually there are a couple of things we could have had for under 5 points, so it wasn't necessarily walking off the path even if we went there.) However, the new Dotti decided that she would rather have some water! We walked into the gas station mini-mart right next door to the Starbucks and grabbed two bottles of water, which we drank on the way home. The water tasted great!

I spent a lot of the day on the computer and after Dotti fixed us dinner in the evening, I had eaten 43.0 points for the day.

Sunday - I weighed 185.5 pounds. Dotti and I took another walk on Sunday! J We walked to Sweet Tomatoes, had lunch (16.0 points for me) and then walked home. That is about a 4 mile round trip. (3.99 miles by my GPS.) Dotti continued to make awesome choices on her eating and the scale has been very cooperative as a result.

We then went to Costco and walked around. I found a couple of books I liked and we picked up a few food items. We had our traditional Very Berry Sundae, but Dotti only ate half of hers, and she was a good influence on me because I didn't finish mine either. Good choices. The difference between great results, good results, and poor results can be just a slight adjustment on your choices. Little things matter, and they set the stage for big things. I have been fascinated watching the way Dotti has been doing her program. It is 1998 all over again. Very cool!

At the end of the day, I had eaten 42.5 points.

Monday - I weighed 186.5 pounds. It was back to work again. L I did arrive early enough to do a walk. It was 46° outside and I put on my heavy coat and gloves to start out. I walked 2.0 miles, and it wasn't until the very end that I finally was warmed up enough to where I was ready to take off my gloves. Excellent walking weather!

We had to disassemble, clean, and rebuild some assemblies in the morning at work, and before long it was lunchtime. I walked another 2.31 miles, connecting up a new assortment of walking path options to create the final length of walk. It had warmed up to 72° by that time, but it was still pleasant.

When I got home we had some things to work on for the computer and the evening passed quickly. Things had to be lined up so it wouldn't be too disruptive when Dotti went into surgery. It was only a few days away.

I ended up eating 34.5 points for the day.

Tuesday - I weighed 186.0 pounds. I got to work early and walked 2.0 miles. Once more the temperature was fairly low (50°). I wore my coat and gloves once more, but I warmed up a little earlier than on Monday. Still it was a pleasant walk.

We had a cryogenic pump problem that kept us chasing our tails for most of the day. We finally solved the problem and had things back on track by the end of the day. However, lunchtime was short and I didn’t get in a walk.

When I got home, Dotti was ready for another walk! (She is really doing great!) We walked to Red Robin and I had a salad (6.0 points) that really filled me up. We walked across the parking lot to Barnes and Noble and browsed the shelves for a bit. Then we completed the 3.1-mile loop back home.

At the end of the day, I had eaten 31.5 points.

Wednesday - I weighed 186.5 pounds. I left for work at the earliest time that I have done in quite a while, but it didn't help. First, I noticed that my gas gauge was running low. So, I had to go through the price-gouge and pump my tank full. Next I got on out on the main road heading for the freeway, and I noticed it was backed up. There ended up being an accident on the major corner just before the freeway entrance. I cut through a parking lot to speed things up, and was all set to make the light when the cars ahead of me slowed way down to look at the accident and then stuck me with another cycle on the light.L The freeways were running slower than I had seen in a while, and by the time I got to work, I was later arriving than I had been any day this week.

However, I still had time enough for a 2-mile walk. It was 48° out. It makes it so nice for walking when the temperature is down like that.

At work, I had to go to help out at another site, and it took up the whole day, but it helped make the day fly by, because we were quite busy.

At home we had a lot of things left to do to be ready for Dotti's surgery on Thursday. It was time for bed before we knew it. With an early start set for the next day, we couldn't stay up late.

I finished the day having eaten 33.5 points.

Thursday -The alarm chirped alive at 04:55, and it was time. I woke up and weighed myself. (187.0 pounds.)

Today, September 22, 2005, was the day we had been planning for, not with joy, but with resignation. We were going to go to the hospital on this day for Dotti to have her shoulder operated on. Neither one of us got enough sleep, but for Dotti, it was very little sleep; only a couple of hours.

After turning off the alarm, I let Dotti sleep a few more minutes while I got my breakfast preparations started, and then I woke her up. She couldn't eat before surgery and so I didn't want to eat in front of her.

Dotti has been absolutely awesome on her weight loss program these days; the best I have seen her since 1998! She weighed in this morning at 10 pounds down from where she was only a couple of weeks ago, and it was only a week ago when she went into the 100% OP mode that I was so happy to see return. The weight has just been falling off the last week, and she is visibly thinner in the face already.

Both half asleep, we stumble around getting ready. I stuffed a couple of books and a writing pad into a bag to take along for the waiting times that I would be having. Dotti brought her Palm Pilot along in case I wanted to have a game to play while she was otherwise occupied. It was after 05:30 before we knew it and we headed out the door to climb into the van.

I normally have my car in the garage, because I leave early, and it makes it easier to just hop in and go when I am off to work. The van is normally parked in the driveway. So, when we got out to the van, its windows were all covered with dew. It was 39°, as I got Dotti situated into the van and got the engine started. I then took our squeegee around to all the windows and cleaned them off. By 05:40 we were finally pulling out of our driveway heading over to the hospital.

The streets were fairly clear, with just a few early risers already on their way to work. I was pointing out to Dotti where the traffic had been backed up the day before, and where the accident had been that was causing the delays. And then we noticed that the onramp to the freeway was closed due to road construction. (They had been doing that for a few days, but it opens at 06:00, and I normally don't get to that point until 06:20 at the earliest on my drive to work, so it was always open for me before.)

So, we had to go down a ways, loop around and catch the onramp coming from the other direction. Soon, we had negotiated the detour route, and we were heading down the onramp that I used to take to go to work when we lived in our last apartment. We still had plenty of time, because the hospital was not all that far away.

Having driven this route just a few weeks ago, and with Dotti's knowledge of that area of Portland as a backup, it was easy to find the little hospital that we were seeking. When we pulled into the parking lot at around 06:00, and then walked over to the main hospital entrance, the apartment where Dotti used to live when I first met her stood as a visible reminder of how many wonderful memories and great times have come my way because of that beautiful young Mormon girl I met 31 years ago this month. My heart was filled up with emotion, and I struggled with a fear that was as dark as the early morning sky, because my Dotti would be at risk in a very short time. I forced the fear back into its cage, easing my mind with the knowledge that this was not going to be a surgery on an area that contained vital organs, and the risk was slight. But any risk, when it comes to Dotti is too much for my liking.

The security guard was holding the door open for us as we arrived. The admission counter was still closed (this small hospital doesn't open its doors for normal business until 06:00), but there was a couple already waiting ahead of us.

I was tired and so I wandered over to a small espresso stand that was in the process of setting up for the day's business. I asked the lady running it if the coffee was still brewing, or if a cup was available. She said no problem, what size would I like. "Large," I replied with hardly any hesitation. I normally would go with a small or medium, but I knew today was going to be a long one.

By the time I got back to Dotti's chair, a small crowd of people had assembled, waiting for admission. However, the admission counter was open, and the first couple was being processed. Soon, Dotti and I were sitting at the counter and Dotti was joking around with the guy filling out the paperwork. (Dotti had come by a couple of days earlier to get her pre-surgery EKG and blood work done, and at the same time had already filled out the bulk of the forms.) We were shortly being ushered down the hall to her prep room.

It was the very same room that they had put her in when she did her thumb surgery. The same nurses were on duty and everything seemed to be moving along fine. Surgery was scheduled for 07:30, and the wait was supposed to be even shorter than we had gone through for the thumb. (Sitting in the room, Dotti in the hospital bed in her "fashionable" hospital gown, knowing that a surgery was looming up right ahead, makes for a tense time. The shorter the wait, the better!)

As it worked out, the speedy start to the process was not to be however. Seven-thirty came went, and then the anesthesiologist showed up. For the second time in a row, I was not impressed with their selection for this person.

For the thumb surgery, the guy appeared to be past retirement age, and he hadn't seemed to be entirely on top of what was going on. (Dotti had also told me that he had had trouble with getting the IV started in the OR.) Since, the anesthesiologist is in charge of the most dangerous part of a "minor surgery" that didn't make me feel really good about putting my Dotti into his care. Since the same surgeon would be doing the shoulder surgery, and he had mentioned that the first anesthesiologist was not one he normally worked with, Dotti had requested that someone else be doing this one.

Well, it wasn't the same guy. However, this time, it was actually worse. The lady had no people skills. (The first one was at least friendly.) She complained about how hard it was to see Dotti's veins. And then she made the stupid comment that she was just going to have to "guess" as she drove the needle in. Dotti winced in such a way that it jumped me out of my chair and I was over to her side quickly. There was the anesthesiologist, kneeling on the floor holding Dotti's punctured hand, and displaying a look of confusion on her face. "Nothing," she said.

I have to admit that I have a very low tolerance for anyone hurting Dotti anyway. And when a professional acts like a bumbling, confused amateur and is causing my lady pain, I really get upset. (If you have to guess, keep your mouth shut and at least act like you know what you are doing, to give the patient confidence.) People worry about surgery anyway without major players in the process acting like they are in over their heads. And of course it is bad enough that one has to deal with the necessary pains of surgery without inflicting unnecessary pain.

She pulled out the needle and decided to use the vein at the elbow, from where blood is normally drawn, and finally got the IV needle in place. This location is not optimum and later in the day it caused a few minor difficulties, but at least there was no more needless pain on that score.

The nurses had recommended that Dotti get a "block" before the surgery, where they stick a needle into the neck and numb a main nerve for the arm. It is supposed to lessen the pain during the recovery time. We were debating whether or not she should have it done. I read up on the procedure on the Internet, including a description written for doctors describing the steps to take. It sounded like a good idea if whoever was doing the procedure was very familiar with it and was good at it. However, there was an "art" side of it that would make it easy to screw up for an unskilled practitioner. After watching fumble-fingers do the IV we didn't even consider the "block" procedure for Dotti.

The anesthesiologist also had a piece of bad news. There was a problem with having the proper equipment to perform the surgery. They had more operations scheduled at the same time than they had scopes available. Dotti's surgery was going to be pushed out into second place rather than being first. This could impact on whether or not she would be able to go home in the evening, depending on how long that first surgery took.

We felt like we were pretty well set to go, and the time was well past when the surgery was supposed to happen. I noticed that the doctor was running around in the hall in his spandex bicycle riding outfit (I thought he was supposed to be performing another operation?), just like I saw him before the thumb surgery, but this time he looked like he was upset about something and was fussing at someone, instead of just looking for a place to park his bike indoors. (Yep, this place is really professional. I was very surprised before Dotti's thumb surgery to see a bike being walked down the hall through the hospital prep room area, and it turned out to be the surgeon and his vehicle.)

Finally a nurse that Dotti remembered with fondness from her thumb surgery walked in. Dotti and I both were thinking that we were finally going to get this show on the road. Dotti said brightly, "Oh my favorite nurse!" The nurse looked very embarrassed. At first I thought it was just from the compliment, but soon I realized it was because she had bad news, and I am sure that clashed in her mind with what Dotti had said. She told us that the scope was "down." They couldn't do the procedure today at all, and we would have to come back next Tuesday for the surgery.

The emotional turmoil this caused is hard to explain. I was thinking to myself that Tuesday wouldn't work very well, since I couldn't take the rest of the week off starting on Tuesday. I am still fighting the terrible drain on my vacation time from last year. Taking these two days off that I was already scheduled for was a problem, and trying to arrange even more time for next week could be a real issue at work. Even doing it on Thursday next week would juggle things badly, because I am (naturally) scheduled for pager coverage starting on Monday. (I am usually either on the pager, coming off the pager from last week, or going onto the pager next week.) The job used to be a lot more flexible about changing the pager around, but changes in the pager schedule have become much more difficult to work with lately. And that doesn't begin to deal with the emotional trauma of having to gear all up for a surgery, only to have it drop out from under you like a trap door that you didn't know was there. (And there was the issue of going through that IV fiasco a few minutes before.)

We were discussing these things as the nurse was pulling tape from around the IV and she was just getting ready to yank the needle out of Dotti's arm when another nurse came hurrying in and said that the scope was available and the surgery was still on. Our emotions were jerked around like a car on a rollercoaster rail taking a sharp turn in direction. At least Dotti was spared another go-round with the IV needle.

Suddenly, we went from "nothing's going to happen today at all," to everybody being in a really big hurry. (I can't help but think that this was at least in part being driven by the surgeon, who seems to live life as if he feels like he is constantly being held back by hard-hearted reality's roadblocks--that would be people. He seems to remain in a continual state of aggravation as a result, attempting to hurry things along; especially all those "lesser beings" that he has been stuck with on this planet.)

Another nurse popped in and said the OR was ready. Moments later the anesthesiologist stuck her head in and told them to move the patient to the OR. The IV was quickly taped back down into place, and very soon they were wheeling Dotti down the hall to the OR, leaving me all alone with my worry.

It was 08:26. I set my stopwatch, so I would have an idea how long the surgery was going on. I was never told beforehand whether this was going to be a 30-minute procedure or an all-day affair.

Right around the corner from Dotti's prep room was the waiting room. Waiting there was the female half of the couple that had arrived before us at the Admission desk. She was reading a book. No one else was in the room at the moment. The television was thankfully off and I found a nice soft sofa to relax in. I pulled out a book and started to read.

An hour later a doctor came out and spoke with the lady. He said that the surgery had been a success, and that they had found a bone spur in the spine, and they had removed it. Everything was going to be fine. He took her over to a table, showed her some pictures and described everything that he had done. He let her know when her husband would be out of recovery and then left. I was thinking, maybe it wouldn't be much longer before Dotti's doctor would be out as well. I hoped my news would be as good.

An hour later I was still waiting. I hadn't started to worry yet, because I knew that the operation could be complicated by whatever the doctor found in the shoulder. I was hesitant to leave the waiting room to go to the restroom, because I didn't want to miss the doctor, but finally I did.

After two and a half hours had gone by (I just left my watch in the stopwatch mode, and didn't worry too much about what the actual time was) I got up and went over to the nurse's station and asked if the nurse if she had heard anything about how Dotti was doing. She said that Dotti was nearly ready to go into the recovery room.

Another half-hour passed by before the nurse finally came over to me and told me that Dotti was in the recovery room, "talking up a storm." I said, "That's my girl!"

A few minutes later the surgeon came out. It was around 11:30, three hours after I had last seen Dotti. The doctor quickly stuck some pictures under my nose without preamble, and told me that what I am looking at should be "cue ball smooth" but there were some trenches cut into the surface where it was nearly bone on bone.

I still have no idea whether I was looking at the ball or the socket side of the joint, or something else altogether, and he didn't elaborate. He brushed aside questions and left me with little hard information other than he was not happy with what he found there and a reference to a future "shoulder replacement" that may be desirable at some point.

He went on quickly to mention something about some arm motions that Dotti should do for exercise, without any specification of duration, nor frequency of the exercises. He actually seemed upset by my requests for clarification. Soon he left in what appeared to be a huff, but was only slightly less friendly than his original approach had been.

How does one become a prima donna like that? (If he had a pressing emergency and couldn't talk at all, why was he here? If he was merely in a hurry, and would rather talk later, then he could have said so. He had all the valuable information, and I was at his mercy as to when and how he would divulge it.) I have known many extremely competent professional people who are as easy to work with as you could possibly wish. (The cardiologist that I dealt with at the hospital a few days ago comes to mind.)

An extremely high IQ, and excellence in surgical technique, doesn't require rude behavior. This same doctor didn't bother to talk to either myself or Dotti at all immediately after the thumb surgery. It is true that good surgical technique is your first concern when you have to have an operation. However, if you do not know what the correct method to achieve full recovery is, you just might undo all that fine surgical work by applying incorrect physical therapy technique.

Needless to say, I had mixed emotions at this point. My primary emotion was one of joy to know that Dotti came through the surgery well. It took a huge load off me knowing that. The second emotion was one of frustration at the doctor for unnecessarily leaving me in the dark. This lack of information kept jumping up at me the rest of the day as I made phone calls letting people know that Dotti was okay. They always asked me what the results of the surgery were, and I couldn't give a very good answer, because I had never received one myself. The hardest time I had was when Dotti asked me what the doctor said. She had a right to know and I could only give her the ambiguous tidbits that I was given. However, she was not as upset as I was about the lack of information. She said that the doctor was much better in the follow-up appointment in giving explanations. So, we put it to rest for the time being. (We never did get a good response as to duration and frequency of the exercise. A phone call to the doctor's office will be required to get it.)

I was told that it would be about 20 minutes before Dotti would be wheeled up to her room. The nurse said that Dotti was going to be in room 215. I grabbed the bag of books and the bag with Dotti's clothes in it, along with our coats, and I headed off in search of the patients' rooms. Soon I found an elevator to the second floor, and there was a set of stairs right beside it. I took the stairs, and followed the signs to the room.

Along the way, I passed a bed just setting at the end of the hall as if it were being stored there. I noticed what appeared to be a recliner type of chair sitting about halfway down the hall sitting in an odd position. The place had the feel of an older institution on its way down. In the room, it was so cold I had to put on my coat while I was waiting. When the nurse came in she was wondering if she should turn off the air conditioner. I said, "Absolutely!" Dotti had been feeling a little cold before she went into surgery, and the prep room had been much warmer than this room was. Also, after anesthesia, patients often feel cold anyway. Putting them into an icebox surely is not a good idea.

While I was waiting, I called up some friends and family to let them know that Dotti was safely out of surgery. Then I looked out the door and down the hall. My heart jumped as I saw Dotti being wheeled along in her bed. The nurses had to dodge around the chair in the hall, but they made it safely to the room. Dotti was awake, but looking very much out of it still.

As soon as she entered the room, her bottom jaw went into a major shiver, bouncing out of control. She looked extremely cold! I was very glad that the air conditioner had been turned off.

The nurse's aids got a plastic sheet designed to assist with moving a patient between two beds. They shoved it under Dotti and then lined up the height and angles of the two beds. Pushing them close together (and I had my leg up against the movable one to make sure that it did not shift position during the procedure) they slid Dotti's limp body from one bed to the other.

The nurse said that Dotti's shivering was just the anesthesia, but she was finally convinced to get a couple of more blankets for Dotti, and the shivers calmed right down after the blankets were put on. (I found out how nice hospital blankets are these days when I went in. Now they microwave them before putting them on you. They have the feel of a warm fire on a cold winter's night.)

Right after this, once everyone had left, my cell phone rang and it was Dotti's twin sister Catherine returning my call since she hadn't been able to answer before. She was naturally asking about Dotti. She shared the general sigh of relief that Dotti was okay. While I was talking, I heard Dotti say that she needed something, and my afternoon vigil of watching over her had begun.

At first she looked dreadfully quiet. She was completely lethargic, unable to speak very clearly, or to stay awake. I saw little change over the next 3 hours. I was afraid that her recovery might be so slow that she would have to spend the night. That concerned me a little, because the staff had taken nearly every possible opportunity to avoid impressing me with their competence.

The first nurse's aid tried to hook up the IV drip machine and set the rate of flow. She struggled with it for quite some time before it started to work correctly, and then moments later it started alarming. This went on over some time, and left me wondering if she had a clear visual picture of what she was doing.

Next another nurse's aid (I am assuming they were aids, because I am hopeful that a real nurse would not have these exact problems) came in to take Dotti's "vitals." She gets through the blood pressure and pulse rate check, and takes her temperature too. Great. Then she comes back a few minutes later and attempts to do it again, and fails. She declares that the blood pressure machine is broken. In the meantime it is becoming clear that (as mentioned earlier) the IV in Dotti's arm is in a very bad place. It is right by where the BP cuff has to go. So, each time they put the cuff on, it is banging up against the IV needle. Thank you. L Every time they check her blood pressure they put the cuff on again. (I was remembering how mine just stayed on when I was in the ER, and it made things easier.)

So, nurse's aid number two goes and gets nurse's aid number three. I was hoping that NA#3 would have perhaps a little more experience. Instead, she concurs with the assessment of NA#2 that the machine is broken. A new BP cuff doesn't help. So, NA#2 runs off for an entirely new BP machine. When she comes back and hooks it up, it responded exactly like the first one had. I was watching it work and it seemed like it might be working correctly. I even asked her if it wasn't supposed to do that: going up to a high value, and then stepping down checking for a pulse at each step. (The numbers on the scale were ramping up to something around 150 and then dropping by 10 or so counts every second or two.) The NA#2 shut the new machine off about halfway through the process and declared that it was bad too.

For some reason, when in the finale of this play, NA#1, NA#2, and NA#3 were still unable to make things work, and the IV blood drip was still alarming, the term Keystone Kops kept jumping to mind. I made up my mind that I was not leaving Dotti in their hands overnight!

About this time one of them went to get the only Registered Nurse on the shift. She was a nice young lady, who appeared to be about 8 months pregnant and accordingly walking very slowly. NA#3 referred to her as "Mom." She immediately set things right. The BP machine was indeed working perfectly, unfortunately none of the NA ladies had a working knowledge of what it was supposed to do. The IV was being partially block by the physical arrangement of the tubing thanks to the poor location of the IV needle in Dotti's arm, and the routing to the machine that had been created by NA#1.

Now, we had a freshly trained group of nurse's aids who could identify a working BP machine, hopefully for at least the remainder of their shift, and an IV drip that would be okay as long as Dotti didn't move her good arm.

Things started to settle down a bit then. The room was big enough for 2 beds, but it looked like they never used it that way. There were a number of surprises that I encountered during the day. For instance, there was no centralized air conditioning system for the room. Instead it had one of those wall mounted units that you often see in a motel room, with manual knob control. I very much hoped that Dotti would be able to go home that night, but she wasn't coming around very quickly.

There was no chart in the room, so the NA#2 had to write down all the vital signs data on a piece of pink scratch paper that she carried around with her. I assume (or at least hoped) that she was transferring the data over to an official log somewhere later.

Along about 3 PM, I am beginning to think that Dotti may be stuck there overnight. As long as the Keystone Kops were responsible for my wife, I wasn't going to leave for the night. However, I hadn't had anything to eat since 5 o'clock in the morning. So, I decided to make a mad dash out and grab some fast food and get back as quick as I could. At 3:15 PM I left. I went down the stairs to the first floor, and soon was headed across the street to my car. Before long I was at the Drive-Thru window of a McDonalds that Dotti had told me about, and grabbed two cheeseburgers (16 pts), a small fries (5.5 pts) and a small chocolate shake (8 pts). Since I wasn't going to eat any more that day, I didn't worry about the 29.5 points. It wasn't going to push me over my 46-point normal.

I went right back to the hospital parking lot, but someone had already grabbed my parking spot. I hunted around to the back of the lot and found a place to park. I quickly ate my meal and was soon headed back up to Dotti's room. At 3:30 I was back at Dotti's side and she groggily said, "You have to get something to eat!" This is vintage Dotti. She is always looking out for others, even when she is the one who needs to be looked out for. I told her that I had already eaten, and she looked very surprised and asked me, "When?"

The fact that she was talking this much was actually a sign that things were changing. Up to this point she had not said very much, and she was sleeping a lot. She did ask for ice chips and then later water. She didn't talk very much. (She had asked about the surgery and what the doctor had told me, but I didn't really have any good answers for her.) But all that changed after I got back from eating. She started staying awake more. She would carry on longer conversations. Her eyes were looking brighter and the color was returning to her cheeks.

From this point on, Dotti started working her way towards meeting all the necessary criteria to be allowed to go home, rather than spending the night at the hospital. The night shift had come on, and I was very impressed with the new personnel. The RN was in checking on Dotti regularly, and took charge of making sure things were done right. Even the nurse's aid appeared to be quite competent in doing her tasks. Things were looking up.

We were told that once Dotti had gone to the restroom, eaten a meal (and kept it down), and had the pain under control with oral meds, she would be all set to leave. Item #1 was taken care of around 4:30 PM. They brought in some crackers and Jell-O around 5:30. Dotti was very hungry and, after writing down the points for them, ate the saltines, graham crackers, and the orange Jell-O, and it didn’t take long to finish them, even though I was careful to feed them to her slowly. I broke the crackers in half for her and then spooned the Jell-O for her. Her right hand was out of use, and I didn't want her to have to worry about doing it with her left hand.

The RN said that he would have a tray brought in shortly, and Dotti could try some real food, since the crackers and Jell-O had been such a success. Her stomach was feeling just fine, and so it looked like Item #2 on the checklist was going to be completed soon.

It was discovered that the sling that they had given Dotti had a lot of Velcro on it and one of the corners was cutting into her arm. Some of the worst pain that she was experiencing wasn't from the surgery at all but from the way the sling was put on without protection from the Velcro. Once that was discovered we were able to alleviate that pain for her.

The doctor had installed a medication pump during the surgery. The pump would allow pain medication to flow from an exterior reservoir, somewhere in size between a baseball and a softball. (The doctor used the tranquil term "grenade" to describe its shape.) It would flow from the reservoir into the wound through a tube that works like an irrigation soaker pipe or hose; where holes were placed all along the tube and the medication would then be applied directly where it could do the most good. This seemed to be handling the pain from the surgery pretty well. Item #3 on the checklist appeared to be about ready to be marked off as well!

At 6:00 PM the meal arrived. The first thing that Dotti did was to count up all the points! Since her right arm was out of use for the moment, she had me write everything down for her. However, using her own left hand, she then jumped into eating what turned out to be a very good high-carb meal. Macaroni and cheese was the heart of the meal, but there a nice green salad, some corn, and a bottle of Snapple. She didn't eat the spice cake (but I did J). Soon she had a nice full stomach, and the final item on the checklist was about to be tested.

The RN gave her some oral pain medication at 7:00 PM, and we were told that an hour must pass before we could leave; assuming that all was still well. The pain med put Dotti right to sleep, and I read my book for the hour. At 8:00 PM the RN said we were ready to get checked out of the hospital!

Now came the fun part. Dotti had worn a tee-shirt in. There was no way to get that on over the contraption she was wearing after surgery. So, I let her have my shirt, which was a button up. We took off the sling for a moment, put her right arm into the shirt, and then put the sling back on. We were able to button up most of the shirt around the med pump and sling etc. Her left arm still had the IV needle, and so we rolled up that sleeve to give access for removal. I put her zip up sweatshirt over her shoulders, and her shoes on her feet, and finished packing up what few items we had. By 8:15 PM, the IV had been removed, and we were ready to head out the door. I took all the stuff out to the car and pulled it around to the front door, and the RN wheeled Dotti down, all the way to the car door. Soon I had her situated in the front seat. (The seatbelt shoulder harness went behind her but the lap belt fit on safely without pain.)

We thanked the RN for his kind attentions. (I told him that normally I had seen hospitals put the "A-Shift" on days, and the lesser lights on at night, but it was the other way around at this hospital. I could tell he appreciated the compliment, but he had definitely earned it!)

We had freed our selves form the hospital, but our day was not yet complete. We pulled away from the curb at the hospital around 8:30 PM. Now we had to make the drive back home to Vancouver, stop at our pharmacy and pick up some medical supplies as well as the prescriptions the doctor had written.

Traffic was pretty light, and it only took a little over 10 minutes to get across the Columbia River and over to our pharmacy. We went inside, and grabbed a shopping cart. Dotti held onto my arm and we walked back to the pharmaceutical counter, and dropped off the written prescription. The guy said it would be about 20 minutes. So, we walked around the store putting a few items into the cart that we thought would be helpful, as well as the ones the RN had recommended for us to get. We picked up the meds, and then checked out at the front counter, finishing up our business there about 9:15 PM. Next stop: HOME!

We got home sometime around 9:30 PM. I got Dotti situated in the house and then unloaded the car. We found that we were even more tired than we thought we had been, and soon we got ready for bed. Untangling all of the medical devices on and around Dotti's shoulder took a bit of time, so she could get comfortable for bed, but we worked it out finally and soon, we were sound asleep. What a day!

I had eaten 46.0 points.

Friday - I weighed 185.0 pounds. I had the day off but I was up at 5:30 AM anyway. I spent the day trying to catch up on some things around the house and on my computer, but mostly I was focused on trying to keep Dotti comfortable. There were some times during the day when she was having a lot of pain, and others where she was not feeling too badly. The pain meds kept her groggy, and she even dropped the phone and fell asleep during a conversation at one time.

I haven't watched a movie in well over a month, but I thought on Friday I would watch one that Dotti keeps talking about called Notebook. I thought she might enjoy it. But just a short ways into the movie, she was sound asleep. I turned it off for later. J

The doorbell rang several times during the day with very much appreciated flowers accompanying every ring. One set of flowers was attached to our niece who dropped by with a big smile for a visit. Our house has been very much brightened up by all the colorful blossoms. J

In the afternoon, Dotti hit a spurt of energy, and she joined me in preparing our evening meal, and even put the dishes in the dishwasher, and there was no stopping her. Later she was tired again, but it is hard to keep my Dotti down for long. This weekend we may be trying to do a few short, simple, low-stress things outside of the house.

I ate 44.0 points on Friday.

How do I rate this week? All and all, I feel that for my journey it was a good week. There is plenty of room for improvement, but I am happy with it nonetheless.

Eating – I ate even lower this week, averaging only 39.29 points-per-day. So, I did very well on my eating.

Weight – My weight didn't jump around too much; remaining between 185.5 and 187.0. Even though I was eating low for the week, the scale stayed on the upper side of my target range. However, as long as it remains inside the target range, I am happy. J

My average weight was 186.07, down slightly from last week, but still very close to the same.

Water – I drank at least 6 cups every day. That is my goal. I averaged 57.14 ounces (7.1 cups) per day. That is plenty of water!

Exercise – It was not as good as the previous week, but I am still fairly happy with what I got done this week. I walked 18.5 miles (goal 25 miles), and earned over 35 aerobic points (goal 30 aerobic points). I was moving this week and got in a healthy amount of exercise.

Overall, I am happy with how the week went for my journey. Dotti was my primary focus this week, and I had a lot of my journey running on "autopilot." Fortunately it worked pretty well. J

4 years, 136 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/186.0/180±2/BMI:23.25/WK-228

GRAPHS:

Weight Loss Maintenance Year 1 Maintenance Year 2 Maintenance Year 3 Maintenance Year 4 2005 Walking 2005 Walking Data

2004 Walking Data