he's baakk...

Journalling by Karina Gradin
(Jan16/06--- "Uncut")
The Day of the Surgery...February 16, 2006...by Karina

It was a crisp, frosty morning with a chilly breeze. We left Uncle David’s house at 7:48 a.m. The temperature gage that was on the ceiling of the van said it was -32˚C. As we drove through Saskatoon to get to the University Hospital, Blaine had a hard time seeing outside the windows. Apparently some vehicles weren’t used to the cold weather and died in the middle of the road. That caused a barrier for us to maneuver around...a task not so easy when you cannot see who is coming behind you!!

After we escaped the rushing streets with the mystical, swirling snow, we finally arrived safely at the hospital. Blaine dropped Rachel, James and me off at the door and went on to find a parking spot that ended up being right close by. James laughed when I poked at his hand that was closest to me. He was carrying a bag of stuff. Finally I told him, “Switch hands,” in mid sentence of something else that we were talking about. We went inside and promptly found the admitting desk. This lady with white or blonde hair said to James, “Come with me!!” She reminded me of my dad’s voice in the morning...not pleasant, not angry, but a little gruff.

So James went to be questioned by the gruff woman, and Rachel slid over right close to my left side and smiled, bringing her shoulders up in a way that most females do. She said to me, “It was really good you could come!” Then we talked about how cold it would be at home and how my mom was going to manage today with the chores. Then Rachel jumped up and decided to see what was happening with the room situation. She walked over to James after the gruff lady had left to go print something off. Apparently, the semi-private room was $100 and the private room was $120. James chose the semi-private room. Hopefully he won’t have a roommate that is cranky and doesn’t like Winston (the small, nylon stringed guitar that we brought along).

After we left the admitting, we were told to go Same-Day Surgery admitting. We still hadn’t seen Blaine and we began wondering where he was. Rachel said, “James, he’ll see you with your orange scarf.” So James walked in the middle of the walkway. Up ahead, we saw Blaine come in and walk the other way. We laughed.

Then, when we got to Same-day Surgery, James got ushered into an interrogation...I mean, interview room. We were put in a waiting room that said “For the consideration of others, no food or drink in this waiting room.” And we hadn’t had breakfast yet. We asked the nurse if that would be a problem...she looked a little sheepish, but she smiled and shook her head and said, “go for it.” So now we amuse ourselves by Blaine flipping through the channels until he found the Olympics showing hockey, and I sit here and tell the story.

At 9:10 a.m. we were all invited to come into the interrogation room. James was given a stapled handout explaining all about his back surgery. We had fun trying to take pictures of his hospital wrist band that said all of his allergies: dust, cats (I thought it said rats...), and mold. He looked very lushing and dashous in his hospital garb. Then we all came and sat in the waiting room and stared at the lions...

At 10:20 a.m., we were joyfully joined at the hips...I mean we were joined by Tim and Nathan. They had gotten a little bit lost in the hospital. They ended up in the cancer ward...☺ Suddenly the room with the lions was no longer quiet. It began “roaring” with sound!!! We all laughed at the Olympic commercials of people running around and doing all their sports with a huge flame following behind them! At 10:55 a.m. we gathered and prayed for James. Meanwhile, as we continue to wait, Nathan amuses himself with his video camera. And Tim plays with a foamy dice...gambling.

At 11:27 a.m. the physio nurse came for James to talk to him. Tim, Nathan and I began to lip sink the people on T.V. as it was muted. Much to the amusement of the other waiting patients. Then we left the Same-day Surgery waiting room at 11:37 a.m. They were slightly behind schedule...typical Saskatchewan. The nurse took us all to another waiting room. There, all the doctors and nurses involved in the operation came and talked to James, telling him all what they would be doing. They gave us a really warm blanket! It must have just come out of the dryer. Everything in this hospital is warm!! Even the toilet paper!! (It was sitting right above the heat register.)☺

They took James to the operation at 12:26 p.m. We then went to yet another waiting room. Tim and Nathan parted our company to go shopping. Rachel decided that she was going to go start the van to make sure it would not freeze up. So Blaine, Rachel, and I prayed for James together, and then she left. So Blaine and I passed the time drinking our frozen juice boxes and listening to a family talk and laugh in French. Apparently they were from Prince Albert as well. They were waiting for someone who was coming out of ICU from heart surgery. His operation was 5 hours!! I’m glad that James’ surgery isn’t supposed to be that long!

At 1:45 p.m. I decided to have a nap. I sat with my head resting on my hand and Rachel read the paper and Blaine wandered and looked around. At 2:00 p.m. Dr. Griebel came in and said that it was a very successful surgery and that James is in the recovery room and is waking up now. So soon we will join him in his room upstairs. Praise the Lord!!

At 2:50 p.m. we finally got a phone call saying that James was going to be taken up to room 6315 in “5 minutes.” So we packed up all our things, and I grabbed Winston and started walking. I stopped and asked Rachel, “Do you think I can walk up with him?” They figured “why not?” So I stood at a corner a little ways away from the recovery room and waited for about 15 minutes. I heard his voice once when the door opened, and soon enough he came out with a couple of nurses rolling his bed down.

I called out and asked, “Is that James Witherow?” And the one nurse asked me back, “Are you part of his family?” I answered sheepishly, “Yeah...” So she waved her hand for me to join them. So I got to be the first person to see James!! Yay!! And we got to the room and no one was there yet. So the nurse came and cleaned up around the dressing...James warned them, “WARNING...I have NO pants on!!” They laughed. Then after about 20 minutes, Blaine, Rachel, and Uncle David came in. We all talked for a bit, then Uncle David left.

Rachel left to go get the Lindor Chocolates from the van, and actually ended up going to sleep listening to the radio in the front seat. Then a couple of nurses came in to do an “assessment” so Blaine and I were asked to wait outside. Then all these ladies came in and there was a big “party”...poor James...he still didn’t have any pants on...evil women!!! Grrr! They were trying to “help” him “void”. But one good thing was the LPN named Renelle grabbed some pants.

I asked James what happened when he woke up. The first thing he could think about after he woke up, was that he was hungry. His tummy was growling a lot, too. Rachel and Blaine left so James could sleep. He wanted me to stay with him. And about 5 minutes after he closed his eyes, “knock, knock, knock...Supper!”