Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Boy gets his wrist worked over


It's fall so it must be time for the next edition of The Boy Gets Something Operated On.

And today The Boy had his left wrist operated on. It had been having problems for a while now, and since this was a short week at school, he chose to have it repaired today. Some tendons were fooled with and a bone spur was wrestled down.

Originally the operation was scheduled for 9 AM, which meant he had to be there at 7 AM - early, but doable. This got changed yesterday to a 7:30 AM surgery with a 5:30 AM appearance time. Being the caring and wonderful guy I am, I volunteered to take him to the surgery with Mrs Notthat showing up a bit later to spring him from the joint. I'm a morning person, but this was still challenging.

The Boy was SO excited to get to wear one of those stylish hospital gowns. (Actually, I have no idea why he is smiling here. I know I wouldn't have been.)
The doctor showed up and put her initials on the wrist that was to get improved. It's kind of funny, but also reassuring, how many times people (nurses, doctors, anethesiologists, janitors) would have him confirm his name, birth date, and the wrist that needed worked over.

Finally, once everyone in the hospital had their chance to verify who he was, he was given a stylish hat and wheeled off. Again, the smile has to be fake. (I yelled "Dream of large pizzas!" as he went away - a bit cruel since he was pretty hungry at that point.)

This was when I went outside and let Mrs Notthat have my parking space as she took my place in the waiting room. Sequoia Hospital (Club Sequoia to us) is busy building a new building right on top of 90% of their parking area. It turns out that at 5:30 AM, getting a choice space in the remaining 10% is pretty easy. Bequeathing it to Mrs Notthat bothered a few cars cruising for an opening, but I won't lose any sleep.

And here is the finished product. Everything went fine and he will now be healing for a bit. This means he won't be going to work for at least two weeks, although he will still be going to school - he just has to be careful. The most important thing to him was that he can still drive (after last year's knee surgery, he was unable to drive for a fairly long time, which did not please him much).

That's it - move along...

PS: One sort of odd thing was that, since he is now 18, parental involvement was not automatic in any of this. The Boy is getting old!

PPS: If you are keeping track, he has had two knee surgeries and the other wrist in a cast for a bit of time. I don't think he is fragile, but he did tend to drive his body a bit hard when he was younger. But still...


2 comments:

DAK said...

Psssssh! You haven't mentioned The Boy's ankles, nor elbows, nor teeth. What kind of skateboarder are you raising over there, anyway?

mary ann said...

He is a Brave Boy indeed and you are a kind father and husband to save that valuable parking place. Don't try that in SF.