Well, here my long wait began. I was so sleepy, but there was nowhere to sleep, I was too woozy to write or even to read. I finally perched myself on a sofa on the other side of the waiting area, which was lit brightly with obnoxious white lighting (I mean, I tried sitting everywhere, even in the children's waiting center, but it was too damn bright), and half dozed. I got a text at ten saying he was in recovery, and Dr. Coyle said if they started on time, James should be ready to go by 12:30.

Alas, no, because he had the same blood pressure problem as last time, and also felt like he couldn't breath when they turned the anesthesia off, so they put him on oxygen and then a Bi-Pap to help him get the anesthesia out of his system. Worse, the recovery room nurse kept trying to call me, but I wasn't getting her messages because my phone was tagging them as spam. So I kept calling her, which must have been annoying for her.

Didn't get to see James until 3:30 p.m., after which they'd turned both the oxygen and the Bi-Pap off.

Guess when we got released. Yes, you guessed it: rush hour. It took us over an hour to drive the 24 miles home.

Despite the delay, he seems to be doing fine. The doctor gave him some pain medication, but he only used it that evening and the next day. He did report some burning at the surgical site during his first dialysis after the surgery, but that was all.

After this, trips to dialysis and the rest of the week was a breeze. Put the flag up for September 11, then next day stripped all the summer crap down and put up fall stuff. Since I finally found the rub-on letters, I finished the signs for the porch, and now I just need to spray them with a clear coat. I also bought a cute stuffed sheep.