#THENOSE
January was a wild month. Dan has had a deviated septum for quite some time now, and we finally decided to get it looked into (especially while he is still on his parents insurance!) We found an ear, nose, throat doctor here in Logan and scheduled an appointment. Dan left the appointment with a surgery scheduled for the next week- talk about fast!
The surgery was scheduled the day before school started. Dan assured me it was a very minor surgery and that he would probably be fine to go school the next day. I only took work off the day of the surgery, how foolish I was! The surgery wasn't schedule until 2:00 that day, and I thought about going into work for 1/2 the day, but decided it would be a good time to get some things done around the house and spend time with Dan before school started.
We were planning to have some friends give Dan a blessing around noon that day, but got a phone call at 11:15am asking if we could come NOW for the surgery. We were so happy the surgery was moved up so that we could get home sooner and Dan could rest for the first day of the semester. However, this left us no time for Dan to get a blessing. (Lesson learned: get a blessing the day before!) We grabbed all of our stuff, and booked it over to Logan Regional Hospital.
I am weird and get nervous over things like this, always worrying about the "what ifs" and unknowns. I haven't had surgery since I was two and can't remember any of it. I felt unprepared for what I was supposed to be doing, or how they were doing the surgery- but luckily my mom and mother-in-law are both nurses, so I felt reassured that we could ask them questions if needed. We got checked in and Dan changed into his cute surgery gown :) It took around an hour for all that, and to speak with the doctor and anesthesiologist. Then suddenly it was time. Dan was being wheeled off to surgery and I was left to wait. The surgery was supposed to take around 90 minutes. AKA- lots of time for Pinterest and pondering :)
Side note: Dan and I are both allergic to amoxicillin- one of the many reasons I know we're perfect for eachother :)
Those 90 minutes went by quickly and suddenly the doctor was in the room, telling me the surgery went perfectly and they were waiting for him to wake up from the anesthesia.
Next thing that happens is Dan is being wheeled back in our room, talking quite loudly and making one of the nurses laugh. As they get closer to me, the laughing nurse said "He wanted me to make sure I tell you that he loves you and that he wants a kiss..." Well at least I know Dan isn't one of those people who gets angry coming off anesthesia! haha! It turns out the other nurse was the wife of one of the counselors in our Stake Presidency, who we had just gone to a Christmas party with a few weeks earlier! I was so relieved to know she was Dan's nurse. It eased SO much of my worrying and I felt totally comfortable and at peace. I wouldn't be afraid to ask her any questions, and new she would take the best care of Dan. Heavenly Father sure watches out for his children.
It took quite a bit longer than expected for Dan to become coherent enough for them to let us leave the hospital. His blood pressure was really high and the monitors were going off the whole time we were there. Our miracle nurse thought this was probably due to cocaine in his system from the anesthesia... who knew they put cocaine in anesthesia!?
Prior to the surgery I asked Dan if we needed to do anything-- buy him any juices, puddings, etc. Did he have the medicine he needed? Dan assured me his prescription was at the pharmacy already and he wouldn't need anything. FALSE. Thankfully we had our miracle nurse. She was able to tell me how to get the prescription filled and actually hand delivered to our room.
(This is why God said: It is not good for men to be alone!)
So while Dan was coming out of his haziness, we got the medicine and figured out what to buy at the grocery store on the way home.
I think the worst part of the surgery, is that you can't blow your nose, you can't touch your nose, and you just have to spit up all the blood running down the back of your throat for like 3 days. YUCK! These blue medical bags were lifesavers!
Once we got home, I made Dan something to eat (the kid hadn't eaten since the day before!) and tried to get him settled. We made his "white stache" for all the blood to irrigate into. Again, very unpleasant. Poor guy! My favorite part of the whole experience was while I was making dinner, I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie or TV show.
His response: "I want to watch Sleeping Beauty."
So Dan watched all of Sleeping Beauty while he ate his dinner! At first I thought it might have been the pain meds, now I think it was just Dan with no filters wanting to watch it. Another reason why he is my soul mate :) It became pretty obvious that I was not going to be going to work tomorrow, Dan can't drive on these meds!
#THEJOB
Dan eventually pulled out his laptop and started checking the sports for the day and his email. He came to find out that he had received an email that day for a position he'd applied for back in October or November. They initially told him that due to the high number of applicants, they were only interviewing the first 20 or something and that he wouldn't be interviewed. However, in this email they said they needed 2 people to start right away and were doing interviews that day. Dan was so upset and disappointed he missed it.
We'd been praying for Dan to find a job for a good 8 weeks at this point. I had to admit I was disappointed too. This would have been a GREAT job. We decided it was worth a shot to email them back and see if there was any chance he could get an interview still. Watching Dan try to write an email and form sentences was quite entertaining! I eventually took over the typing part and Dan decided that he would go into their office first thing tomorrow morning to speak with them.
That night, Dan didn't sleep one bit. We think it was a side effect of the pain meds, and the discomfort of trying to sleep while sitting up (can't lay down with all the blood still running out your nose!). I woke up the next morning to Dan sitting wide awake next to me on the bed watching a movie. We both got ready and I drove him up to campus with his "white stache", 24 hours of no sleep, and on pain meds... this was going to be interesting!
BUT- Miracles happen. The guy gave Dan an interview regardless of his state, and within an hour, Dan got an email saying he had the job as a facilitator for the distance ed classes! HURRAY! The only downside was they needed him to start that day... I did NOT think this was a good idea considering Dan just had surgery less than 24 hours ago! Dan insisted that he did. So, I reluctantly drove him back and forth from campus all day for classes, work training, and actual work.
The poor guy didn't get home until 8:00 that night due to work... he was at 36 hours without sleep. He was in bad shape. He came home and instantly threw up. I felt so bad. I couldn't believe how big of a whirlwind the last 36 hours had been, and I know Dan's body was past functioning.
#TIMING
This was such a good learning experience for both of us. Taking care of Dan in this way was a new experience for us and it made me love him even more! And then Dan doing anything it took to get a job to help provide for us was just the cherry on top of the huge pile of love I have for him. I'm so grateful for a husband that can pull through such hard situations such as these! And still look like a stud while sporting the "white stache" :)We also had a great lesson in learning that prayers are answered-- not always at the most convenient time for us, but in the way we need. But this job has been so perfect for Dan this semester (the guy pretty much gets paid to do his homework!) and the Lord has blessed us so much!
