Lady in Waiting

So what does one do when one's husband is having knee surgery? One waits. One waits for a very long time in the waiting room. And what does one do in the waiting room for four hours? You're about to find out!

1. Take care of the most important piece of business: Post a status update on Facebook. All FB friends must be aware that I will be sitting in the waiting room for a very long time.

2. Catch up on the last two days of FB posts that I've missed. Re-watch the funny cat holiday videos.

3. Read the newspaper. Huh.... It's been a long time since I actually read the whole thing cover-to-cover... There's a lot going on!

4. Restroom break... cause I stopped at Sonic on the way here and got a 90 ounce Coke to keep myself awake.

5. Review the post-surgery instructions to make sure I haven't missed something important.

6. Start to panic that something will go wrong. What if he reacts badly to the anesthesia? What if he dies? How do I plan a funeral at Christmas? Okay, that never happens. He's not going to die from knee surgery... But what if his knee is worse than they thought and they have to amputate?

7. Spend the next 10 minutes going through various dramatic scenarios and how I would deal with them. Finally settle on the fact that none of these will happen and everything will be fine. The worst case will likely be that he will pass out in the car on the way home and I will worry about him falling over in the seat. I can handle that.

8. Look at watch. Only 50 minutes have passed since we walked in the door. This is going to be a long day...

9. The nurse calls me back. He's not even in surgery yet so I get to go visit with him while he waits. We hang out and try to talk about things that will distract him from how hungry he is. It's 11:15am and he hasn't eaten since 9pm last night. You would think he is dying of starvation right before my eyes. 

10. Time to go to sleep! They kick me out and take him back for surgery. 

11. Now what? Well, I brought two books and four magazines so I guess I'll start reading. 

12. Lunch break! Doritos, peanut butter crackers, and a banana. Watch some HGTV show where people are buying houses. Or maybe they are fixing up their house. Or someone is surprising them with a new house. I don't know - they all seem the same to me. 

13. The doctor calls me back for post-op consultant and gives me the scoop. Everything went well! They found a meniscus tear, fixed it, and also did some work on the cartilage. 

14. Wait some more while he's in post-op recovery. Read more of my book. 

15. Finally! Time to go home! Total time of waiting = 3 hours. Less than expected! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

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