Yeah, yeah, it’s 9 AM and I haven’t even made coffee yet. I’m allowed to be unmotivated on weekends.
Yesterday went very well, I thought. I took Dan to see his doctor first thing in the morning. He had to remove the 95% of the packing in his nose so the real healing could begin. I accompanied Dan to the treatment room, and the doctor warned me that while the patients rarely had time to react, the family members watching the procedure had been known to faint. With that, he reached in and removed 6-8″ of bloody gauze from Dan’s nose like some kind of demented magic trick. Mildly disturbing, but not too bad. Dan said it stung at the time, but the Lortab he’d taken before the visit helped a lot.
We just kind of bummed around the house when we got back, clearing out all the accumulated programs from the Tivo and dozing on the sofa. At noon I took a nap while Dan noodled on the computer and watched stuff I wasn’t interested in (like Enterprise). After a few hours, I got up and Dan took a nap. While he was sleeping I made a quick chicken stock, as well as some butterscotch pudding and an interesting sparkling grape Jell-O. Then after he got up a few hours later I added some noodles and chicken meat to the broth and we had some tasty chicken noodle soup (beats the hell out of Campbell’s!). If anyone’s interested I can post the recipes for the stock and the soup – they’re both remarkably easy and the whole process only takes about two hours.
After that we went out shopping in search of a foam wedge for Dan to sleep on, to keep his head elevated as his nose heals. No dice at Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and Linens and Things, though we did pick up a few other items at Target.
When we got back Dan was resigned to sleeping in the office chair again, but I remembered that the mattress in the front guest bedroom is actually made of foam and thus more flexible than a typical mattress. After trying to come up with something that I could insert between the mattress and the boxspring to elevate it, I remembered the knee-high stack of newspapers in the downstairs closet (hey, we recycle them, just that we recycle them every few months or so). Those did the trick – I raised up the head of the mattress about twelve inches and that, in conjunction with three or four pillows, was enough elevation. Looking in on Dan this morning, it looks like it worked, too – he was sleeping soundly.
As an aside, I’ll bet that no one else’s parents complain to them that they haven’t updated their LiveJournal that day 🙂 Still, it’s good to have still another mode of communication. Hi Mom! Hi Dad!
Off I go to make some coffee…
With that, he reached in and removed 6-8″ of bloody gauze from Dan’s nose like some kind of demented magic trick.
Heh, good description. 🙂 For me, the disturbing part was when the doctor had me breathe through my nose after taking it out, and when my nose was still blocked, said something like “Well, it’s normal to still be kind of congested after… hey, wait a minute, there’s still more gauze in there!”
Fainting
After my septoplasty (1996), I didn’t faint during the removal of the wadding, but I fainted 2 days later when a crust/scab in there that had been acting as a “blood dam” just BURST. I wasn’t actually “bleeding,” because the blood that was then flowing had been bled (into the “lake”) many hours earlier, but I DIDN’T KNOW THAT AT THE TIME, and lost it. “It” being consciousness. I thought I was dying and wouldn’t wake up again.
Too much info anyone??
Foam Wedgie!
Well, to state the obvious. Your parents offered one. >:)
Also, try any convalescent supply house or pharmacy. The latter may not have it in stock, but can./should be able to get it by monday.
-Nathan
Thank you, Nathan. The wedge that we offered came from one of those places that you mentioned….actually, the “Back Store” in Promenade Plaza (?) on Glenwood in Raleigh. It was NOT cheap….I keep trying to pawn off the $35.00 “no snore” pillow bought at the same time but neither Tom or Dan thought it to be of use…..oh well, what do us old people know. More than one can imagine! By the boo, I do remember coming out of that store with a receipt that said $100.00+ and thanking the gods that we had insurance and that the dr. had more than suggested a need for such an item. “Mr. Cigna” footed the bill for that one. So, guys, should I Fed Ex it to you come Monday morning? Just say the word and it is done.
Can help wanting to be a part of your life, we just simply love you and Dan. Ma
We appreciate the offer for the wedge, but I think we’ll be OK with the improvised solution we have for the immediate future. I’ll talk to you about maybe sending it up by slower methods on Sunday morning. I know we really don’t want to pay $40 for a damn piece of foam just because it’s medical-related.
And y’all never, ever have to apologize for caring, silly. I was more amused than anything else. Sorry if that didn’t come across clearly in what I wrote.
Oops…that last line should have read “CAN’T” help loving….etc.etc. Ma