Surgery!

Jan 22, 2013

My worst fear-- surgery on Daddy Bing--a dialysis patient, with multiple vessel occlusions in the coronary arteries, diabetes, hypertensive--would be complicated. As the ER doctor calmly stated that the surgeon is on the way, I felt so helpless but at the same time I had peace in my heart. The Holy Spirit has that kind of calming quality that reassured me that God is in control.

Mom was suddenly quiet. She thought they'd just give dad some medicine and it would all be better. I explained the situation to her in the simplest terms hoping it was clear to her that this is not an easy thing. Ed decided to go home to rest as there was no point in the three of us getting sleep deprived.

At 2:00 am a gray-haired man with sleep deprived eyes came in to see Daddy Bing.  Dr. G is a general surgeon on call for the night. He probably had a full day just a few hours ago.
"This is an emergency surgery, his colon has a tear and fecal matter is in his abdomen," Dr. G said bluntly. "Do you have any questions?" I actually had a lot but I knew most of the answers.

The doctor then turned to Dad, "We're going to have to open you up to fix your belly, OK?"
Dad just raised both his eyebrows. The doctor turned to me for confirmation. I said, " That means Yes".  I asked Dad, "Do you understand?" He mustered a small "yes" while he grimaced in pain. The morphine was not quite enough.

When Dr. G left, dad's next concern was, "What about my oath-taking on Wednesday? Sayang,"
"Don't worry about it dad, we'll let them know." I reassured him. You see, he just passed the citizenship interview the week before. Ed and Dad were scheduled for US citizenship oath-taking that  Wednesday. It was now, Tuesday when all this happened. While we waited for them to get him ready for surgery, mom and I said a prayer for dad claiming for God's promises to us and for dad. We asked for God to guide their hands and keep dad safe during the surgery.

He was then whisked off to the third floor by the OR nurse and an attendant. They both saw that I was wearing scrubs so they asked me where I worked. I said TMC. "Oh, the big Hermann!", quipped the attendant. "I work there too, on the weekends." Mom was walking slowly as her boots made click-clacking noises with every step on the quiet, sterile laminate floor in the wee hours of the morning.

In November, dad had to have surgery to remove clots from the AV fistula he has on the left arm. So it was a familiar place for us to see. Compared to this, that November trip to OR was a breeze.

It was 3:30 am when they wheeled him into the OR. We waited patiently in the deserted waiting room with a fish tank of gold fish swimming around with no actual purpose. It was as if they too were waiting for someone to come out of surgery but they couldn't talk...

At 5:30 am, Dr. G wearily ambled his way towards the waiting room. "The surgery is over. This was a life-threatening event. With Mr. Puno's heart and kidney diseases, he may not make it.", he said matter-of-factly. "There was scarring on the left colon which caused the blockage, we had to divert the right colon to make a colostomy. It was a mess in there...", he added. " We cleaned out his abdomen and he's going to the ICU." Then came the "do you have any questions? " portion where I could never come up with anything... So I just said "No".