Sunday, November 18, 2012

Change in roles


As I get closer and closer to the age of whatever is next I am struck by how we change roles with our parents.  Now that is a profound statement. Ok here is the real story. The last three weeks I have seen a very large change in rolls for my mother. We were at the doctor’s office; I was standing in the hallway by the rest room in case she needed me.  As I stand there I was struck by knowledge that it was 40 some years ago that she would have been standing outside the restroom door, in case I needed her.  This was the beginning of my mom needing me in a very different way. 

We went from the doctor office to St. Luke’s emergency room. After the contrast CT scan Mom went to the OR. Dr. Barresi removed a section of her small intestine that had attached to her abdominal wall.  At 2:30 am Dr. Barresi visited with me about what he had done and some of the challenges that we have in front of us. It was an informative early morning visit, the first of many.

Abdominal surgery is never fun or easy recovery. Mom was in the hospital for 10 days. Her intestines took a long time to respond and work. They are still not working correctly. Her incision is not healing correctly and we will be going to the Elk’s Wound Center Monday morning so they can work the magic needed to close her up. I was privileged to see inside my mom’s belly. Not something a techie/chef gets to do very often.  Dr. Barresi and his student Clayton explained what I was looking at and what would happen at the Elk’s.  It was Awesome!

I am looking forward to the process Monday morning when they use a negative pressure wound therapy.