A New Year... More Surgeries

I was strong, I had to be, that's my job!

It's hard to believe that it's a year ago this week that Rylan was headed into surgery to have a tumor removed from his leg, and here we are again sending another member of the Taylor family to the hospital for an operation.

Shelly went in for surgery this morning and I was the stalwart husband, giving her every bit of strength and support I could. She needed to know everything will be okay!

It's an early start, neither of us slept very well, in fact Shelly was up and showered by the time the alarm we had set for 5AM went off. Weeks of planning and preparation had finally come to execution time. The plan is for Shelly to spend a night in the hospital and a few days recovering at home.

Shelly and Jenny spent 2 days making freezer meals so as not to be needing to be on the Meals on Wheels program that is abused and over-used in the neighborhood... (if for some reason I offend someone by this statement, I apologize, but it's how I feel.) I can cook, very well if I do say so myself, but it is nice knowing I have easy options for all of us!

Tara is coming down to stay the night with the kids; Anna is going to get everyone to Moo Shin Kwan; Dylan is going to get the boys to Scouts; I'm taking the next two days off work to be with her; Shelly's school board meeting was the night before so she doesn't have to worry about missing that; J.R. and I gave her a blessing before she went to bed; Shelly shaved her legs (it's a girl thing...); all is ready!

We spend the morning as quiet as possible so as to not wake the kids, Shelly packed an overnight bag, and had a few minutes to kill before heading to the hospital.
(I know the quality of the photos in this post suck! I'm taking pictures with my phone this morning... Shelly would kill me for carting a camera around!)

She's all ready for the day, looking as cute as she always does.

We get to the hospital and the first thing she gets to do is change out of her cute outfit into the SEXY GREEN ROBE!

For the most part, Shelly's doing fine, but she has just two major concerns; she's afraid of the laproscopic procedure accidentally doing some damage to her bladder; and she's scared crazy about not being able to feel her legs after having a spinal.

Dr. Anders talked with her, and both felt better about changing the procedure from a laprospically assisted surgery to a "cut me open" procedure. It's easier for the Doctor to get a feel for what's happening instead of using machines, and there's almost no chance of bladder damage that way.

Change of Plans... Now it's a 3 day or so stay, so it'll be time to get creative for a few days, but it'll all work out. We are so fortunate to have the love and support of family and friends to make sure that everything that needs to be taken care of, will be!

Krista and Shelly pause to let me take the "Pre-Surgery" picture, and Krista heads off to get ready for surgery.

The anesthesiologist alleviated her other concern by telling her she could have the spinal with only the pain medication and no numbing agents... she felt MUCH better at that point. She did make him promise to not let me take a picture with her surgery hat on! So I snapped a quick shot right before he gave her an injection to take away all her fears and pains!

I'm sure she doesn't remember me kissing her as they wheeled her towards the OR, but I'll never forget the look of peace on her face. (We could all use drugs like that on occasion!)

I headed back to my office (working at the hospital means I don't have to wait in an uncomfortable chair for a few hours) and that's when I about lost it. She's my everything, and the thought of her going to surgery about ripped me apart. I have all the confidence in the world in the staff, I hand picked those I thought were the best, those I felt comfortable entrusting the life of the one person in this world I love more than any other. I'm confident that everything will be okay, but there's still that fear, until I hold her in my arms again I won't know for sure that everything IS okay.