Kay's Version of Sarah's Surgery Day

May 13

We started Sarah’s surgery off by over committing ourselves for the week before. We had agreed to baby sit over night for the 3 year old son of a couple who are dear friends. The little boy is a delight and he is extremely bright. He is also a bundle of energy. He can entertain himself, enjoys playing with others, likes to be read to and is a very sweet child. He also knows his right from his left and has known this for a bout a year (I don’t think I knew my right from my left until I was 9 or 10 years old.)……..just to give you and idea of how bright he is.

Unfortunately, the 3 year old was sick when we took over his care……….at 5 a.m. on Thursday. That still didn’t slow him down and more unfortunately the medication he was taking for his asthma speeded him up. I finally got him to slow down that afternoon by letting him play computer games and giving him a bath. His cough started to lessen and amazingly by the next morning his cough was almost gone but we still had to continue the medicine.

In addition to that we had agreed to watch two little girls. One is three years old and the other 11 months old. We only had to baby sit for them 3 hours on Thursday and Friday afternoon. On Friday we took the little boy to play with the girls. They really had a great time.

If this was not enough, Sarah sings with the choral guild and their concert was this past weekend. Saturday afternoon she had a 3 ½ hour rehearsal. I entertained the the little boy with an indoor park and bookstore trip which he requested while Sarah rehearsed. His parents arrived back in town just as Sarah’s rehearsal was ending. Then the performances on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

Sarah’s surgery was scheduled for today at 2 p.m. I started the day by taking our newest dog, Molly, to the vet to be spayed. Back home and a short nap before packing and hitting the road for the 2 hour drive to the hospital where Sarah is having her surgery. Sarah drove and we talked as we drove along. She said she was having some butterflies about the fact that she is choosing to have this surgery versus having to have surgery because of a life threatening condition and also what the pain would be like afterwards. We talked about this some. I doubt the discussion did anything to diminish the butterflies. Previous experience told me that butterflies only go away after the surgery.

We arrived at the hospital. A nurse took Sarah back to prepare for surgery and told me she would call me back once she had her settled in. About 45 minutes later she calls me back. I don’t know how Sarah does it but by the time I get back there she is best buddies with everyone working with her. She knows them all by name and little bit about each person. As usual she get great care and lots of personal attention. The surgery team comes and takes her back to surgery about 3:30 p.m. I go back to the waiting room and begin to read a “no brainer” book.

Around 5 p.m., Sarah’s doctor comes out and tells me that everything went well and Sarah is in the recovery. He keeps telling me to leave the hospital and get some dinner and stretch my legs that it will be at least an hour before I can see Sarah. So I leave, visit one shop and pick up some flowers for Sarah. When I return and let the nurse know I am back, she tells me that Sarah has been looking for me. In fact, she is on her way to her room. She shows me where to intercept Sarah and the the people taking her to her room. Once again…………even through the anesthesia Sarah has gotten to know the nurses taking care of her…….even finding out that one of the nurses lived in the town we currently live in many years go. By the time we got to the room, I felt like I had know the lady forever!! Somehow Sarah just has that personal touch with people . If she is given half a chance, they can’t help but love her.

At first glance most people would say that Sarah being transgender is the most unusual thing about her but I do not think that is true. The most unusual thing about Sarah is how she makes really personal connections with people……..people she has never met before from any station in life, young and old. Where ever we go we will hear someone call out to her and come over for a chat. She is just an amazing person!!

I am sitting here in her hospital room and she is snoozing away on a morphine cloud. The surgery is more painful than she expected. She has a PCA pump and uses it from time to time. Depending on how her pain is we may or may not go home tomorrow. We will just have to see how things go. I want her to be as comfortable as possible.

I know that I really didn’t have the kind of butterflies that Sarah had this morning but I was a little concerned about her well being. I feel a lot better now that the surgery is over and she is in a hospital room. The task ahead is too keep her from doing too much so that she will heal quickly with as little pain as possible.

I am so thankful that she has botten through the surgery and is doing as well as she is.

May 14

We are home and Sarah is doing good and I am gratelful.