Big Fat Wine

Friday morning at 3:00 AM Joel wakes me to tell me that he is in pain and going to drive himself to the hospital.  I was sound asleep so my first reaction was, “okay honey, call me when you know what’s up.”  Thirty seconds later, when I came to my senses, I said, “oh, hell no.”  I threw some clothes on and my cell phone in my purse and we headed for the local ER.

Luckily it wasn’t crowded so we got in fairly quickly.  The doctor came in and ordered x-rays and a series of tests with promises of pain relief once he knew what was going on.  About 30 minutes later he came in with a syringe of something magical to go into the IV and the news that Joel had a gallstone about an inch in diameter and that he had called a surgeon and they were getting a room ready to admit him.   The Gallbladder had to go.

I was in deep trouble by the time 8:00 AM came around and I started making phone calls to the fam.  Once the kids found out that Dad was in the hospital and I didn’t wake them up before we left they were not happy with me, not at all.   They finally took him into surgery about 2:00 PM.  Our whole motley crew took over the surgical waiting room, watching bad daytime TV, reading out-dated magazines and waiting for word.   Everything went well and he was out of recovery before we knew it.  When they finally got him settled in his room he asked if he could eat and actually asked if they had a wine list.  He was completely out of it but still had a sense of humor.  By the way, the nurse didn’t have a sense of humor at all.

Joel made it very clear that he did not want to stay the night, he was ready to go home NOW.  Actually we had members events at Chateau Ste. Michelle and a stay at the Willows in Woodinville booked for the weekend and Joel was not going to miss out just because of some dumb gallbladder.  It took a bit of convincing and promising but by 11:00 PM the nurse finally signed Joel’s walking papers and we were on our way home – less one gallbladder and one nights sleep.   I was ready to cancel the events but Joel was totally committed.  We did end up spending the weekend at the winery, but that’s another story.

Joel met with the surgeon this morning and is healing perfectly.  Looks like the crazy long weekend was actually good for him.    Go figure.

As Always,
Love, Laugh, Learn… LIVE!