Last week my husband, to be known as Big Dave, had total knee replacement. Right up to the surgery he was in total denial about how long he would be hospitalized, how much it might hurt, how hard it would be to do really mundane things, such as going up the stairs or getting in and out of the car. Then reality hit. He really does not like having less than complete control over his life and his limb.
I, the caregiver, was also in denial about how much fun this was NOT going to be. During a meeting with colleagues yesterday I stopped in mid-sentence and said, "I am so sleep deprived!" It is somewhat like having a newborn - when the baby sleeps, you better sleep also!
We had reached a bit of a truce until yesterday. This was day seven after his surgery. When the power went out at Big Dave's office, he had to go in to restart the servers. I begrudgingly drove him over. This is no small feat. Help him out the door and down the steps, help him into the car, stow the walker, pull into the parking space and reverse the process. I helped him into the building, carried his briefcase… NO elevator, because of the power outage. Apparently the UPS man had been stuck in it for an hour, and once they got him out they shut it down. HMMM The office is on the third floor. My reaction is, ah, too bad, I guess we go home. Big Dave heads for the steps, and walks up three flights with the aid of his walker. I follow - grousing the entire way.
In the office, he went to work and I sat down to work a Sudoku puzzle - why didn't I bring my knitting? The saving grace was when I looked up to watch him hustle from computer desk to server and back, pushing that walker across the carpet, mumbling… For those of you old enough to remember, he looked like Arte Johnson on Laugh In. Thank goodness for comic relief.
We reversed the routine, down the steps, out the door, walker, steps, car… Only twenty minutes late to greet our dear friends, Pam and Terry, who had brought us dinner. Thank goodness they knew where to find the wine and glasses, and had made themselves at home. As Katie said, "at least you are a good hostess. :)"
He paid the price later when he had to double up on pain meds. I thought maybe he had learned his lesson, but I just overheard him on the phone with his office manager. Big Dave was offering to go over to the office again to fix yet another computer problem. It is going to be a very long four weeks with him unable to drive. You can bet that from now on the knitting bag is going to be ready to go along for the ride.
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