Since my surgery was moved up unexpectedly it meant that a whole lot of stuff needed to be adjusted. I was going to be out of work several days earlier than I’d planned, J needed to reschedule his time-off, and most importantly we needed to find someone to watch Ava on Monday evening since my surgery was now scheduled for later in the day than originally planned. I’m a plan-far-in-advance sort of person so I found all of these changes incredibly stressful, not to mention that my house (or at least the room I was going to be confined to) needed to be spotless so as not to drive me batty, I needed to shop for items needed for the hospital and immediate recovery and, oh by the way, my in-laws would be coming for a short visit (and dinner) on Saturday night, too. Due to that out of work earlier than planned thing I worked until late in the evening on Friday night cutting into my prep time even more.
Most importantly, thanks to a somewhat devious friend who shall not be named, I’d recently gotten hooked on a vampire series clearly designed for an angsty pre-teen and/or a middle aged female audience, watched the first movie, and just HAD to see the second in the series before I was down and out (and therefore unable to get out at all for a while). Thankfully my in-laws are understanding sorts and didn’t mind much when I bailed out on them after dinner on Saturday night and headed out to meet said friend at the movies to drool over were-teenagers with abs to die for. Of course, it didn’t hurt that my absence meant the grandparents had their son and granddaughter all to themselves for a couple of hours (which is a treat, I’m sure, since it doesn’t happen all that often).
Movie Funny #1: I think there were 2 men in the audience that night. One of them was clearly on a date and the other was the long (and loud) suffering spouse who wasn’t about to let his wife forget that the next time was his turn to pick the movie. Movie Funny #2: Hearing all the middle aged women audibly gasp when the clearly jailbait actor takes his shirt off for the first time and then laugh self consciously when they realized what they were doing. Pathetic Movie Fact #1: It’s the first movie I’ve seen in the theater since well before Ava came home over 2 years ago.
So many, many things to do and not enough time.
Not to mention that it’s about this time that the doubts set in. Not about the surgery itself but about the fact that I am now nearly convinced that I will die in surgery and Ava will be left motherless again. (I get like this when I fly, too – every single time.) At this very late date I decide we need a new will (sorry – too late to do that) and want to discuss J’s next wife (and future mother to my child) with him. He, understandably, thinks that I am nuts and refuses to talk about it which makes me threaten to cancel the surgery completely (except by now I’m really looking forward to the 6 weeks off from work).
Oh yeah, and I had to go to the hospital over the weekend so they could rush the labwork through. Once I found my way to some closet they’re renovating but are currently using as a blood-sucking room the hospital vampire swooped in, drained half my blood, and then slapped a hospital ID bracelet on me before telling me I couldn’t take it off until my surgery on Monday. WTH? Now I’m stuck with a hospital bracelet with about 40 tabs noting my blood type and I’m heading out for a night out with my friend – not that we’re all that exciting or looking for action or anything but a hospital ID was not my accessory of choice.
Good times were had by all, despite my stress and paranoia. My mother-in-law came bearing much frozen food in the hopes that J and Ava would not be forced to subsist on canned pasta sauce (the sacrilege), she cooked us dinner (yum, sausages from NY) when she arrived, I got a night out with a cool friend (sans kids) AND I got accosted and robbed by Barnes and Noble on the way out of the mall. (That’s what I told J, anyway, to account for the lighter wallet and large bag of books I brought home.)
More Later…
You’re so lucky to have such cool friends and such an understanding husband. I bet everyone will want to rock the hospital bracelet accessory now. Was the movie good?
Am I the devious person? I told you that the books and the movies were good!!! I cant wait to see you!!! Love Ya!!!