JOE'S HOSPITAL DAY AND PHOTO CHALLENGE #17 - STRIPES AND #18 - SOMETHING OLD

Hello, friends!  This has been a very busy time in my life so I won't be getting on here everyday.  I will do my best to keep up with things with you, but I just have so many hours in the day.  And facebook can just not expect me at all!  But I wanted to tell you how things went with Joe's surgery.

It was quite the day, folks.  The night before we were supposed to get a call telling us what time to be there.  But... it never came.  We had no idea when to show up.  So finally at 9:00 p.m. with no call yet, I called the hospital.  At first I was told he wasn't on the surgery schedule.  I told the lady on the phone that was impossible and to check again.  She looked and said he had an office appointment on July 3rd for a follow up.  I asked her a follow up to what?  She said his surgery that he was having yesterday.  "Yes," I said.  "And just what time is that surgery?"  "Be here at 7:30 a.m.," she told me.  OK!

So I got up at 4:30 a.m. to get all my medicine taken and have time for breakfast.  Joe got up shortly after me.  Around 6:30 we got a call from the hospital asking if we were still coming.  Yes.  "You were supposed to be here before 6:30 a.m."  "What?  We were never called," I told him.  "We are on our way!"  Joe and I rushed out of the house, and got there a little after 7:00 a.m.  I dropped him off to check in and went to park the car.  I went across the street, into the building, checked in, and found him in admissions.  We didn't know we had to pay a co-pay so it was a good thing I was there because I had a credit card.

We were at Pennsylvania Hospital.  It used to be it's own entity, but now is part of the University of Pennsylvania Medicine group.  Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital in America, founded by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond in 1751.  Here is the link to a short history about it. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170227/HALL_OF_FAME/302279996/pennsylvania-hospital-a-large-dose-of-history-along-with-healthcare

This is the original building, but of course it has been added onto over the years and is much larger and more modern now.  I just found out you can take a historical tour of the hospital and when Joe is well enough we are thinking about doing just that.

It took about an hour for Joe to get checked in and on his way to Pre-op.  The surgeon was waiting for us and wanted to know where we were.  We told him what the hospital told us last night and he said it wasn't our fault.  The nurses were super nice and got him ready really quickly.  When they wheeled Joe out to the operating room, the doctor was actually pushing the bed.  He was almost an hour late getting to surgery!

One of the nurses walked me to the waiting room which was on another floor.  What a place!  I checked in with the receptionist.  She took my name and cell phone number and gave me a card with a six digit number on it which was Joe's ID.  On one wall was a large screen which had all these numbers color coded and showed you where your loved one was (Pre-op, Operation/Procedure, Recovery, etc.) by color and told the time they got to each step.  Wow!

It was a large room with groupings of furniture.  There were about six large screen TVs set to different stations so that you could watch whatever you wanted -- news, Rachael Ray type programs, documentaries, etc.  Each grouping had seating and a coffee table with magazines and newspapers.  There were even recliners and sofas if you wanted to lay down.

Since they had my cell phone number, every few minutes I would get a text message saying, "Patient has been given anesthesia and we are about to begin."  Or "Patient is doing well.  Surgery is almost completed."  Or "Patient is being moved to recovery."  Plus there were four in-house phones where first the doctor and then two different nurses called me to tell me how he was and what was happening.  I snapped a couple of pictures of the room where I was.

There was free wi-fi so I was able to post on facebook as things went along.  And if you notice, there were two computers in case you didn't have your own with you and wanted to use one.  I have never seen anything like this.

There was also a really nice Liaison Nurse named Pat who went from person to person acting as a patient advocate and making sure both you and your patient were being taken care of.

I finally got the call to leave the waiting room and go to the discharge area on the 9th floor.  Nurse Pat walked me to the elevators because it was like a maze in there and I would never have found them myself.  When I got to the area another nurse walked me to the check in area and the lady there buzzed me in and took me to Joe's room.  He was sitting in a recliner and had already eaten some crackers and drank some cranberry juice.  A few more checks and I helped Joe get dressed, went to get the car and we were on our way home.

As you might suppose, he is in a great deal more pain than he expected, but all in all he is doing so well.  He was able to eat dinner last night and everything seems to be OK.  Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes.  That really means a lot to us.

And now for our...
PHOTO CHALLENGE
Day number 17 was stripes.  I knew just what I wanted to do for that.  Last summer when I was in Lancaster I stopped in Kirklands for the first time.  I really liked the place although I thought some things were a bit high.  But one thing that was on sale (because the Fourth of July was over) was this "America" sign.  My sister and I both got one.  Mine is hanging on the front door, so here is my "Stripes" picture.

For Day #18 the topic was Something Old.  I have a lot of old things -- mostly packed away.  Although this isn't too old, I have had it for about 40 years so I think that qualifies.  My sister gave it to me right before I moved into my house and I've been here 39 years.  So here is my spice rack that is hanging on my kitchen wall.  I love it because it looks so old and country like.  And now I guess it really is old.

And that's it for today.  I'll be back tomorrow (or the day after) with another post.  Have a wonderful day.

Kathy