| Biographical Non-Fiction posted August 19, 2022 | Chapters: |
...161 162 -163- 164... 
|
  |
Dad's surgery and the trip back home.
A chapter in the book Remembering Yesterday
After the Wedding
by BethShelby
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When Irefer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
It was a relief that the wedding was behind us. We’d made arrangements to keep the rental car longer since we’d only rented it through Monday. The rental company did make an slight adjustment on the rent since we’d had the tire go flat and had problems exchanging cars in Birmingham. The most they would allow was $50. and that after a lot of haggling. At first, they offered $20. After the rest of our family left going back to Chattanooga, you and I went back to the hospital to await Dad’s pacemaker surgery, which we’d been told would be in the early afternoon.
It would be a long day. Dad was anxious to have it behind him. The temporary pacemaker was making him feel much better by keeping his heart regulated and the swelling down in his feet and legs. Still, Dad was a very impatient man. He wasn’t happy that he would have a pacemaker. He convinced himself that no one lives over two years after getting one. That was a ridiculous assumption, but friends he’d known who had one had not lived long. He had also seen too many movies where microwaves and vending machines ended up killing people with pacemakers. Never trust a movie for medical advice.
It turned out the hospital didn’t take Dad into surgery until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The surgery lasted about an hour and a half and everything went well. We stayed until he was awake, and then returned to Newton for another night. We promised Dad we would return early the following day, and if the doctor dismissed him, we’d be able to go home.
Back in Newton, we went to the nursing home to visit Mom's sister, Aunt Chris. She was ninety-three and had lost her short-term memory. She’d lived with her adopted son, Keith and his wife, Vickie, from the Philippines. Keith decided he didn’t want to be married to her any longer, so like the jerk he’d become, he moved in with another woman and left Aunt Chris behind. Vickie was forced to get a job, and put Aunt Chris in a nursing home. Aunt Chris seemed to be handling it well, but she asked me every five minutes if Mom was still living. She remembered her past perfectly, but nothing that had happened recently. Maybe that was a blessing.
The following morning when we got to the hospital, Dad had already seen the doctor. They wanted to take a CT scan and make sure the pacemaker was in place, but Dad was refusing. He was irritable and said he got no sleep because they kept coming in all night. He was on a low sodium diet, but he didn’t like the way it tasted. He claimed it felt like he had a “little devil” in his chest, and he wanted to rip it out. When Dad realized he couldn’t leave until he got the scan, he finally went along with it, and we were able to take him home. The trip home was uneventful compared to the trip down.
When we got home, Connie called us and said they were having a wonderful time in Cancun. She bought one outfit, some underwear and a bathing suit, using our credit card, and said she didn’t really need clothes there. She and Charlie thought the place was like paradise. Charlie was sorry he had protested about having to go out of the country for a honeymoon. She said the honeymoon package included all the food they could eat. The staff kept sending champagne to their room. Neither of them liked it, so they weren’t drinking it.
Dad and I had appointments with our heart doctor a couple of days after we got back. A few days before the wedding, I’d had a palpitation spell while you and I were out looking for a car to buy. The palpitations had been happening more often as of late, but my doctor had told me he couldn't diagnose what was causing it unless he could see it on an EKG. I usually found a place to rest when it happened, and by massaging my carotid artery, I would be able to get the rate back to normal. This time I had decided not to try to get it back in rhythm, but to go instead to the emergency room and let them do an EKG to show my doctor.
When we’d gotten to Memorial Hoslpital, they quickly hooked me up to the EKG machine. I explained that I hadn’t tried to get it back to regular, because my heart doctor needed to see an EKG of what was happening. The technician looked at me like I was a freak and said, “You are able to stop this all by yourself?" My heart was beating 170 beats per minute.
I put my hand up to my neck and massaged my artery, and it converted back to 70 beats per minutes immediately. The technician acted like he had never seen that done before. They sent the EKG to my doctor. When Dad and I went in for our appointments, Dr. Perry said he understood now what was happening with my heart, and I needed a coronary ablation as soon as possible. When he explained the procedure, it sounded dangerous, and I refused to set up an appointment. It would involve finding the spot in my heart triggering an accelerated beat and cauterizing it. I needed to think about it. He wasn’t at all pleased with me.
Dr. Perry wasn’t happy with Daddy either, because he said he should have been the one to install the pacemaker. He was a no nonsense high-strung German doctor, who had no tolerance for people who didn’t do exactly as he said. He acted as though we’d deliberately taken Dad out of town to have the pacemaker installed. At any rate, we learned there would be a monthly telephone check on the pacemaker, and we would be sent a monitor to hook Dad up to. A reading would be taken by phone. I would also need to bring Dad into the office to be checked every four months.
Things started to return to normal at home. You got busy with your garden, and we kept looking for a new car to buy every time we got a chance to get out. We were also looking for property. I didn’t think we needed more property, but because we’d gotten money from the DPT settlement, you were trying to decide if we should invest in property or put the money into a CD.
At that moment in time, we were getting a break from the recent serious traumas, but knowing how our lives generally evolved, we felt we’d better enjoy the lull while it lasted.
THIS IS US:
Evan is 67 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 58 and has given up working in the printing field and is home taking care of disabled father.
Carol is 33, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working at Chattanooga hospital
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's baby in nearly two..
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-three. She is a senior in college.
Charlie is Connie husband she just married on the past Sunday.
For new readers, who may not have read my author notes, this is written in a conversational way as I talk to my deceased husband. When Irefer to someone just as "you" this means I am addressing my husband, Evan.
It was a relief that the wedding was behind us. We’d made arrangements to keep the rental car longer since we’d only rented it through Monday. The rental company did make an slight adjustment on the rent since we’d had the tire go flat and had problems exchanging cars in Birmingham. The most they would allow was $50. and that after a lot of haggling. At first, they offered $20. After the rest of our family left going back to Chattanooga, you and I went back to the hospital to await Dad’s pacemaker surgery, which we’d been told would be in the early afternoon.
It would be a long day. Dad was anxious to have it behind him. The temporary pacemaker was making him feel much better by keeping his heart regulated and the swelling down in his feet and legs. Still, Dad was a very impatient man. He wasn’t happy that he would have a pacemaker. He convinced himself that no one lives over two years after getting one. That was a ridiculous assumption, but friends he’d known who had one had not lived long. He had also seen too many movies where microwaves and vending machines ended up killing people with pacemakers. Never trust a movie for medical advice.
It turned out the hospital didn’t take Dad into surgery until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. The surgery lasted about an hour and a half and everything went well. We stayed until he was awake, and then returned to Newton for another night. We promised Dad we would return early the following day, and if the doctor dismissed him, we’d be able to go home.
Back in Newton, we went to the nursing home to visit Mom's sister, Aunt Chris. She was ninety-three and had lost her short-term memory. She’d lived with her adopted son, Keith and his wife, Vickie, from the Philippines. Keith decided he didn’t want to be married to her any longer, so like the jerk he’d become, he moved in with another woman and left Aunt Chris behind. Vickie was forced to get a job, and put Aunt Chris in a nursing home. Aunt Chris seemed to be handling it well, but she asked me every five minutes if Mom was still living. She remembered her past perfectly, but nothing that had happened recently. Maybe that was a blessing.
The following morning when we got to the hospital, Dad had already seen the doctor. They wanted to take a CT scan and make sure the pacemaker was in place, but Dad was refusing. He was irritable and said he got no sleep because they kept coming in all night. He was on a low sodium diet, but he didn’t like the way it tasted. He claimed it felt like he had a “little devil” in his chest, and he wanted to rip it out. When Dad realized he couldn’t leave until he got the scan, he finally went along with it, and we were able to take him home. The trip home was uneventful compared to the trip down.
When we got home, Connie called us and said they were having a wonderful time in Cancun. She bought one outfit, some underwear and a bathing suit, using our credit card, and said she didn’t really need clothes there. She and Charlie thought the place was like paradise. Charlie was sorry he had protested about having to go out of the country for a honeymoon. She said the honeymoon package included all the food they could eat. The staff kept sending champagne to their room. Neither of them liked it, so they weren’t drinking it.
Dad and I had appointments with our heart doctor a couple of days after we got back. A few days before the wedding, I’d had a palpitation spell while you and I were out looking for a car to buy. The palpitations had been happening more often as of late, but my doctor had told me he couldn't diagnose what was causing it unless he could see it on an EKG. I usually found a place to rest when it happened, and by massaging my carotid artery, I would be able to get the rate back to normal. This time I had decided not to try to get it back in rhythm, but to go instead to the emergency room and let them do an EKG to show my doctor.
When we’d gotten to Memorial Hoslpital, they quickly hooked me up to the EKG machine. I explained that I hadn’t tried to get it back to regular, because my heart doctor needed to see an EKG of what was happening. The technician looked at me like I was a freak and said, “You are able to stop this all by yourself?" My heart was beating 170 beats per minute.
I put my hand up to my neck and massaged my artery, and it converted back to 70 beats per minutes immediately. The technician acted like he had never seen that done before. They sent the EKG to my doctor. When Dad and I went in for our appointments, Dr. Perry said he understood now what was happening with my heart, and I needed a coronary ablation as soon as possible. When he explained the procedure, it sounded dangerous, and I refused to set up an appointment. It would involve finding the spot in my heart triggering an accelerated beat and cauterizing it. I needed to think about it. He wasn’t at all pleased with me.
Dr. Perry wasn’t happy with Daddy either, because he said he should have been the one to install the pacemaker. He was a no nonsense high-strung German doctor, who had no tolerance for people who didn’t do exactly as he said. He acted as though we’d deliberately taken Dad out of town to have the pacemaker installed. At any rate, we learned there would be a monthly telephone check on the pacemaker, and we would be sent a monitor to hook Dad up to. A reading would be taken by phone. I would also need to bring Dad into the office to be checked every four months.
Things started to return to normal at home. You got busy with your garden, and we kept looking for a new car to buy every time we got a chance to get out. We were also looking for property. I didn’t think we needed more property, but because we’d gotten money from the DPT settlement, you were trying to decide if we should invest in property or put the money into a CD.
At that moment in time, we were getting a break from the recent serious traumas, but knowing how our lives generally evolved, we felt we’d better enjoy the lull while it lasted.
THIS IS US:
Evan is 67 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 58 and has given up working in the printing field and is home taking care of disabled father.
Carol is 33, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working at Chattanooga hospital
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's baby in nearly two..
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-three. She is a senior in college.
Charlie is Connie husband she just married on the past Sunday.
Evan is 67 and a retired drafting supervisor from Chevron Oil.
Beth is 58 and has given up working in the printing field and is home taking care of disabled father.
Carol is 33, recently divorced, and a nurse, working at a hospital in Chattanooga and living in an apartment.
Don is a twin. He is 31, a recent graduate of Life Chiropractic College
Christi is Don’s twin. She is working as a receptionist at a chemical company and doing massages on the side.
Kimberly is Don’s wife. She is a nurse working at Chattanooga hospital
Lauren Elizabeth Jane Shelby is Don and Kimberly's baby in nearly two..
Connie is our youngest daughter. She is twenty-three. She is a senior in college.
Charlie is Connie husband she just married on the past Sunday.
 Recognized |
I'm continuing to recall memories of life with my deceased husband, Evan, as if I am talking aloud to him. I'm doing this because I want my children to know us as we knew each other and not just as their parents.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. 
You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.
© Copyright 2024. BethShelby All rights reserved.
BethShelby has granted FanStory.com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
