Kyle has been having elbow pain for about a year now. And it finally was bothering him so much that he agreed to go under the knife to fix it. I attended the pre-operative visit with him, and while I really liked his doctor, all I got out of the discussion was that they were going to "look in there and fix him up." As it turns out, there was a place where the elbow bone meets the arm bone (please don't be overwhelmed by these medical terms) that was a little rough, and the doc carved off a bit and smoothed it up. Or something. So in a few weeks Kyle will have to think of a new excuse for the golf course.
The worst part about the surgery was that they put me in a room after the procedure for the doctor to come in and explain what he did. I had no idea if being put in a room was regular practice or not, and from reading stacks of medical charts with bad endings I was generally aware that being put in a room is not a good thing. So it was a very stressful few minutes waiting for the doctor to come out of the OR. I was only reassured by the absence of kleenex in the room. They should really tell people that is regular procedure.
The best part about the surgery was . . . the drugs. Obviously. I was there as the drugs (fentanyl and versed, presumably) took effect and wore off. Kyle was OUT OF IT after the surgery, and I didn't think we were going to be able to wake him up enough to take him home. He was only capable of saying two coherent sentences in the recovery room, and one of them was "can I just stay here and sleep today." The other was when I tried to motivate him to wake up by mentioning that we needed to go home so he could watch the PGA Championship. His response? "What time am I playing?"
But by far my favorite part was the pre-operative drug response. Kyle became very talkative. Much like alcohol or old age, I think that pre-op drugs magnify a person's personality. And Kyle showed himself to be a very sweet person. Who knew? First, with two anesthesia staff members present, he offered to sing to me. I didn't have my video camera, so I had to kindly decline the offer. Then he called me "my love" and declared "you are the apple of my eye" as he was wheeled away. Does anyone know where I can get some of those drugs on the black market?
Before the drugs (and the declarations of love)
After the drugs
Arm graffiti
Ready for the PGA
The children made every effort to be calm and quiet during Kyle's attempt to recuperate and watch the PGA Championship, as you can see below.
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