P.O.'d !

Oh, how sweet! I'm nowhere to be seen for over a week, and none other than that dear "Ravn" is the sole blogbuddy who asks where I am and what has happened! Thank you for your concern, Ravn, and trust me when I say that you are my FAVORITE (insert a nasty look here over to Dick Small's direction)!

I spent 45 minutes at the Post Office today trying to retrieve all the mail I had on hold while gone. Would someone explain to me again why we don't privatize the Post Office? Jesus, I've never seen so many rounded shoulders and dead eyes and lifeless shuffles and "fuck you" attitudes! I could feel my blood pressure spiking as I watched those governmental zombies stumble through the Hell they call "work". I wanted to scream "Lick a stamp and lick my fucking ass, for GOD'S sake!" I'm gonna buy stamp software at some point, so I don't ever have to set foot in that crypt again.

It kinda ruined my day, truth be told. Anyhoo...

Yes, I've been back home for several days now and have been very neglectful in posting. Let me catch you up:

Sister is doing very well. The hospital where the surgery was performed is a "teaching" hospital, so things went slowly as every med student who could get in on some of the action - did! I'm not kidding. The poor girl had three separate anaesthesiologists (I nearly slipped into a coma just trying to spell that friggin' word), three nursologists, a head surgologist and two -ologists that I still have no idea what their function was.

They had to drill a hole in her skull. Behind her right ear. It's where the wire goes that stimulates the nerves in the middle ear. A hole in her skull. Fuckola!

Her rough and tumble husband was kind of in a bewildered fog of anxiety during the surgery. I was glad I was there. He lost her bag of personal belongings at one point. I found them in the cafeteria. He couldn't get any staff to give him any progress reports. I flagged down a nurse and stood in her path until I got answers. When Sis got out of surgery and into Recovery, I could tell she was still in an inordinate amount of pain. I insisted she get more drugs. I did a lot of eye to eye contact with staff and spoke very measured and calmly and slowly. They responded to my requests quickly.

Look, I know this isn't about me, I'm just saying I think I helped, okay?

She was scheduled for surgery at 9:30AM...she didn't get into surgery until noon. We didn't get to see her until nearly 5PM. We finally got her packed up and into the car, bound for home, by 7pm. When we all got home, EVERYone was wiped out.

A day later, her husband had kicked into "caregiver" mode very well. Even my niece was being helpful. Sis, however, was distracted by my presence, and WAY too worried about how I was, whether I had enough to eat...did I sleep okay, and so on. I decided I needed to leave so that she would concentrate on herself and stop trying to be the good hostess.

So, my work was done and I bolted.

I check in on her online regularly. The hole in her middle ear has caused balance issues, but that was expected. She will spend the next four weeks healing before they get in and turn the implant on and program the chip. That's when we find out if it will help her hear again.

Remind me to tell you about the gay motel/resort that I stayed at on the way back to Texas. Yup, a gay resort. In Oklahomo City. Too funny.