Wow...what a day!

We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 as requested by the doctor in the event he was ready early. This after a night where Angie participated in a bowel prep, if you have not had the experience to participate or witness one - DON'T! At 10:10 they took Angie into pre-op and told me I could join her in 30 minutes. 55 minutes later I was taken back, then Kyle came about 30 minutes after that. The doctor arrived in Pre-Op about 1:40 and went over everything with us. He said he was a little behind schedule, but assured us that in his line of business you "don't make up time - you run late and later if need be!" He said she'd likely be in the hospital 6 days (not 4 as he originally said in his office) AND he said she'd go from surgery to ICU. We must have looked horrified because he immediately asked if we had discussed that prior - which we both responded no. He told Angie she'd be fine and warned me not to watch the clock and told us the anesthesiologist would be in shortly. The anesthesiologist and OR Nurse showed up about 2:05 and went over Angie's chart with us, the anesthesiologist commented he was recently in the same PRE-OP bed that Angie was in. Angie asked him if it was serious and he commented that he had his kidney's removed due to cancer - he said that it was "ALL GOOD" - and that she'd have the same outcome if not better. At about 2:15 they asked her for her cocktail order, provided her the initial dose and wheeled her away. Kyle went out to eat and to let the dog out, I had a bowl of "HOMEMADE CHILI" from the cafeteria (not really that homemade). Did a reasonably good job of not watching the clock (Doctors orders) - Kyle was back about an hour into it - and at 6:30 Dr. Janicek appeared. He was very confident in his demeanor and we walked down the hall as he advised of the procedure. We talked for about 12 minutes, he commented how it went and that she did great and that he and the anesthesiologist did not see a need to send her to ICU. That in itself felt like a victory. When we met with Dr. Janicek in PRE-OP he was very serious and Angie even commented after he left that it brings it all back into focus and the seriousness of it. The Dr. Janicek I met with afterward was much different - he was smiling and proud of the procedure and the patient. We talked briefly about the NEXT STEPS and treatments, he did place a device in her that will aid in the administering of her treatments. The doctor was then off to perform his final procedure of the day. Now that Angie was NOT going to ICU I was concerned about her getting a room right away as all day families were being told that room availablility was an issue and their relatives were being held in recovery for 2-3 hours. After making my phone calls to family and friends I approached the reception desk and asked about Angie and was provided her room number on the spot. They said she'd still be in recovery for about 45 minutes, so I went up to her room to get her belongings unpacked and arranged. She has a room to herself (only 1 bed) - simple but nice. Right at about the 45 minute mark she arrived - and looked great! She had not had anything to drink since midnight so you could imagine how dry her mouth was. Once they got her transferred to her bed we got some ice chips - which at first she had me rub on her lips. She was worried she'd be nauseous - but finally started taking them. She's in some pain as you can imagine, she has a "pain meds" button that she can push as needed. I stayed with her until midnight - at that point felt it was in both of our best interest for me to go home and get some rest. We said our goodnights - I kissed her for everyone and will be back at her side tomorrow.