Second Season

11:33 A.M. – pre-surgery
Sitting in the pre-surgery waiting room I was reading a collection of tributes to departed friends and celebrities by an Eastern Kentucky writer, Anne Shelby, who I met a few months back. Wow! I’m telling you this is absolutely the wrong thing to read while your loved one is having intravenous tubes hooked up in preparation for major surgery. Damn! You just don’t want to be stirring up that kind of emotion at a time like this. You want positive survival energy going, no negative vibes, no descriptions of how someone who has passed touched your life. I had to put it down.

12: 25 P.M. – transport to surgery
After they transported Renee away for surgery, I then moved over to the P20 surgery waiting room. Oops, I mean the Surgical Center Family Lounge. Really? The lounge? I love how they try to soften every bit of authentically descriptive phraseology in the language. A new twist here, they had a violinist providing what I guess they thought would be soothing classical compositions to the overstressed masses awaiting word on their loved one. How about choosing something a little more upbeat, buddy. I like classical music as much as anyone but the sound of a singular violin scratching out a hundred year old score was haunting. I don’t think this was the result they were looking for. Couple that with my mis-chosen reading material and as Christine Lavin put it in Rockaway, her song about the end of summer, “it’s enough to make me lay down and cry.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXk_Lt9GIWQ

I believe in karma - good karma, bad karma – so I had to break free of the negative forces pushing on my fragile nerves. Without even telling the P20 desk attendant I was leaving – I was told twice to inform them if I was leaving the lounge - I went and grabbed a sandwich and headed for the rooftop. I needed some air. I’ve told you about the pavilion on the roof of the Cleveland Clinic before. Oh by the way, I’m not calling it the Cleveland Clinic anymore, it’s now the Double C. Continually using the word clinic sounds like we’re having a sexually transmitted disease looked at. We’re not talking about a case of the crabs here. This is a triple dose of majorly invasive maneuvers. And, since we’re removing the possibility of psychologically damaging connotations from everything, I can’t go around calling it a clinic. Someone might get the idea that sick people are here. We must remove all reference to real life situations from real life situations. If you want reality you’re going to have to watch it on TV in between a bunch of laundry detergent ads.

Now back to the rooftop – It’s a beautiful autumn day in Cleveland. Visibility is good and the downtown skyline is framed by Lake Erie and some low hanging clouds passing lazily above the points of the hi-rise cluster. The clouds are casting a few shadows, hiding the reflections in the glass and granite, but the sun is winning the battle between light and dark - fresh air and a fresh view, just what the doctor ordered. I took a few good deep breaths and headed back to the lounge and settled in with a new book.

01:39 P.M. – surgery has begun
Estimated surgery time is two hours, I roost in to a chair away from the bustle of parading patients and impatient family members.

03:58 P.M. – Paged to the P20 desk for a doctor’s call.
The surgeon said all went well. For once he only performed the basic surgery as advertised without any complications. The knot he thought he would have to remove turned out to be a fluid filled sac and it only needed to be drained. Renee is doing fine.

4:26 P.M. – Renee was taken to the recovery room.

5:45 P.M. – received page - Patient is stable, in recovery – they will page again when I can see her.

6:20 P.M. – Report to P20 for room assignment – Renee was being moved from recovery to Room H50/15. They validate my parking. I beat Renee there by about three minutes. She reported that her pain level was a 3 out of 10. She got up on her own and went to the bathroom. She said yes when they asked about dinner. She was fairly coherent and in pretty good spirits. All right, what did you guys do with my wife?

9:00 P.M. – Bob leaves a groggy Renee to get some dinner and some rest.

9:25 P.M. – Bob hits pub across the street from hotel and catches the 12th inning of the Twins/Tigers marathon. Tigers choke with bases loaded and less than 2 out. Twins don’t choke.

The baseball playoffs start tomorrow, what some call the second season. Renee did well today and tomorrow …., tomorrow starts her second season.

Good night and Go Yanks!