SURGERY DAY

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. My name is Travis. I am Tiffany's husband. She's pretty sore right now so I will write in the blog for her until she's well enough to take over. I'll start on the day of the surgery. We showed up to the pre-op room at 6:30 am to begin preparations. Tiffany changed into her gown and the nurses proceeded to hook her up to all of the IV's and monitors. We were both very nervous and very anxious. Go ahead and throw scared and unsure into the mix of emotions also. Something that had always seemed so far away was now bearing down on us very quickly. One by one, we met with each member of the team that would be in the OR with her. Though they were total strangers, I know it gave me a little more comfort actually meeting the people in person that would be responsible for my wife that day. Finally the time came for our good-byes. It took everything I keep it together through this. Though a small chance, there was still a 5% chance that this would be the last time I would see my wife alive. I knew she was in good hands though, so we hugged and I gave her a kiss and told her I'd see her when surgery was done. She was starting to drift off from the sedative so I left the pre-op area and made my way to the waiting area on the 7th floor. It was here that I would receive the update calls every 2 hrs. My first call was scheduled to be at 10:00 am. They have a huge coffee maker in the waiting room that would make any sort of coffee concoction you could come up with. I thought to myself that it was funny that they would take a room full of already nervous jittery people and supply them with unlimited amounts of free coffee. So I grabbed a cup of my own blend and settled in for a long day. 10:00 am came and the phone on the wall rang. It was for the lady sitting next to me. 10:15 am came and still nothing. Finally, at about 10:40am my call came through. The nurse was very apologetic for being late but she then informed me that everything was going great and that Tiffany was doing very well. I hung up feeling very relieved and passed the info on to Tiffany's mom, stepdad Virgil, and sister Chloe, who were all sitting in the waiting room with me. The next call was to come at 12:30pm so we decided to go get a bite to eat and get me checked out of the hotel. We got everything taken care of and got back to the room at about 12:00-12:15. The phone on the wall rang at 12:30 on the dot. Same news everything's going well and she would call back at 2:30. The nurse then asked me for my cell phone number in case they got done early. I gave it to her and settled back into my chair. 2:30pm came around and the phone rang again. This time they were closing her up and then they would move her to a visiting area called the Critical Care Unit. This is a step down from ICU but not the normal recovery room we would be put in later. The nurse said it should take about 1 1/2 hrs to get her down there. So I hung the phone up and sat back in my chair. At around 4:45pm Dr. Lenke came into the waiting room and spoke with us. He said the surgery went great and that there were no issues at all. He said Tiffany did wonderful. We were then instructed to wait until about 5:45-6:00 and then head down to the Critical Care Unit to see her. At 5:30 we started the journey to the 3rd floor. We navigated the maze to a room labeled Critical Care. I approached the nurses desk hoping I was in the right place and before I even made it, a nurse stopped me and asked if we were Tiffany Fink's family. With much relief I said yes and she guided us to the bed were Tiffany was laying. I rounded the corner to find her very swollen and hooked to an endless number of tubes, IVs, monitors, etc., but I didn't care. My wife was alive and had made it thought the surgery and that was all that mattered at that point. They allowed me to stay next to her in a small recliner. I did my best to stay out of their way all night. Every 2 hours they had to come in and rotate her to the other side. This was horrible to watch and I'm sure even more horrible to be the one being turned. She did great though with no complaining. We got little sleep that night so there was no real way to differentiate one day from the next, other than the clock on the wall with the date and time on it. It had been a very long day but we were through it and ready to start the next day.