A Whipple of a Day

June 11

Well, today was the big day! “A whipple of a day” as Andrés himself put it in his agenda. I can’t tell you all how long today has felt. I’m sure each of you has had one of those eternal days at some point in your lives. And if you haven’t... you WILL. That’s life!

There to help shorten the time were all of our friends, excellent friends, more than friends, brothers and sisters, pouring in one and two at a time to sit and chat or hold hands or offer coffee or food. To all of you I am so very grateful.

Special thanks to Alvaro, who is a fellow at UHN and was able to be our eyes and ears in the OR, bringing back optimism from each peek he took. Also for being with Andrés until he was put under and when he came to in the recovery room. I can’t thank you enough, Alvaro!

I won’t make this entry too long as it’s late, I’m tired, and tomorrow will be a long day too. I certainly was not able to take a picture of Andrés this time. He was really not very presentable. It would have freaked too many of you squeamish folk out. I will describe him, though. Hmmm.... let’s see.... well, he has the classic JP tube coming out of his abdomen and draining blood from the site (as he did the last time), he has the same catheter for his urine as last time, his IV (same as last time). He also has a draining hose out his nose, removing pressure from the stomach to allow the new connections to heal and prevent nausea. He has a ton of suction cup thingies on his chest to monitor his vitals, connected to a screen. But the freakiest of all is an arterial gauge coming out of his neck. Sometimes the medical staff isn’t as anal as one would wish. Had I been in charge of that one, it would be clean and covered with gauze or something so as not to freak out loved ones. As it is, it’s taped (transparent) and there’s pooled blood underneath, looks like someone stabbed him in the neck (sorry for the gore!).

I don’t have to tell you how uncomfortable he is with all this stuff, especially being cranky coming out of the anaesthesia, and hot and thirsty (cannot drink anything for four long days). On top of it all he has long stockings to prevent clots on his legs and these inflatable things on his legs that inflate and deflate rhythmically... Looks very hi tech. I’ll try and take a picture tomorrow.

The unit he’s in is noisy, and that really bothered him. “Get the f***ers next door to shut up!” is what he said when I asked him what I could do to make him more comfortable. So I did. Hurrah for Patty! :) I just hope tomorrow he’s stable enough to remove all the cables and so he can start walking. This always accelerates recovery.

To end this entry, since I still have to translate it into Spanish and post it and email you all, I’ll say that it was REALLY hard to leave him there “alone” (he’s got his nurses taking care of him, but no one will do as good a job as his loved ones, right?), but in the end, he was asleep and I’m crossing my fingers that he won’t remember much at all tomorrow, since he is pretty high on a cocktail going in through the epidural (oops! Forgot that one in the list of tubes!).

Oh, sorry, before I finish, I am announcing a contest called “Pimp Ma Crib”, prize to be determined. Last year, Barnaby – god bless him – brought an “autographed” poster of Carmen Electra that immediately drew doctors and nurses to Andrés’s room, ensuring extra care. This year, having learned that unusual things attract attention, he has created a robe and boxer combo with velcro’d sides (many thanks to Marga’s mum for retrofitting it!!) that come off à la Full Monty and that allow for all tubes and stuff to go through the sides. We haven’t tried them on yet, but as soon as he’s able to get a sponge bath, I’ll outfit him and let you know how it all goes. I guess I should say that the robe and boxers are Playboy brand, über cheesy, electric blue and black, with bunny and all. Anyways... in place of flowers, which in the end aren’t allowed in the room anyway, I’d like to ask you all to think of an item that we can pimp his room with that will attract attention, like the poster last year, and especially, that will cheer him up and make a good story for him to tell later. You all know how he loves to tell a good story. Some rules: no food, nothing that smells (of anything), it has to be easy to take home or be disposable (since I’ll likely be the one running from room to car when it’s discharge time, carting all belongings)..

How to get the item to Andrés? Well, right now it seems like an eternity, but he will be in the hospital for 9 more days if all goes well. At some point, he will be ready for visitors. When that time comes, you can bring your crazy item. Eddie, please don’t go too crazy! Oh, what am I saying? GO CRAZY! He’ll love it!!! :D

OK, that’s all for now. Much love to you all and tomorrow I hope to be able to have more to report. If you’d like to stop by and see me (no guarantees on seeing Andrés), please call my cell first: 416-831-3363.

xoxox

Good night!

Patty