Wow!  The past 3 days have been very different from what I expected!
We were enjoying our time with Caylea home.  I had supper prepared and we had invited Grandma Dinah to join us for the meal and a visit.  We had a game of cards going.
But Walter wasn't feeling very well and chose to sit out the card game.
As we were about to sit down to supper, Walter came down to the dining room and said, "Maybe someone can take me to the hospital."
We jumped into action!  Daniel got up from the table and offered to take his Dad.
I made sure Walter had all he needed for the journey.
They drove off and us ladies sat down again, not as eager to eat as we had been.  I said the grace, praying for Walter's health and for the medical help that he needed.
Before we had finished our meal, Daniel walked in the door.  We all stared, not comprehending why he'd be back so soon.  But Walter had insisted that Daniel go back home and have supper.  "No use ruining everyone's evening," Walter had said
So after finishing up and clearing the table, Grandma went home.
What to do?  I just couldn't imagine leaving Walter alone at the ER.  The last gall stone episode had lasted over 12 hours and I wanted to be with him.  But Caylea was to be meeting the group at 5:30 am to leave for her trip to Mexico.
Thankfully, Daniel stepped up and offered to drive her to the Roots' house and then head to work at 6:30 am.  I was so relieved to have that all looked after.  So I went to the hospital.
I found my very ill husband in a room in the back with 3 other ER patients.  So not ideal!  But he was on an IV, had morphine in his system and was at least being looked after.  But for the next 5 hours, we waited...waited for blood tests, an X-ray, and the hopes that Walter would be deemed emergent enough to warrant surgery!  But no, at 2:30 am the nurse/doctor sent Walter home.  The doctor had ordered an ultrasound and they would call us in the morning with the time to return to the hospital for that test.  Walter's pain had subsided but I wasn't convinced this was over.
So we dragged ourselves home and into our bed.
Two hours later, Caylea was up and leaving for her 2-week trip to Ensenada but I was too beat to get up and even hug her good-bye!  I felt guilty, but soon was sleeping again.
The phone rang at 8 am - the ultrasound appointment was at 11 am.  So we had another couple hours to sleep before that.
Day 2 of the ordeal was spent waiting 8 hours for the ultrasound results.  No food or water and no IV of fluids for Walter because we thought (and were advised not to) that surgery was still possible.  Alas, after waiting endlessly in the ER, then back in the "streaming waiting room", a surgical resident intern called Walter into a examination room.  After a run-down on the previous gall bladder attack and the appointment with a surgeon 2 months ago, the intern got the picture and was astounded.  In fact, he was frustrated on our behalf because we had waited all day with the hopes of surgery and there was little chance of that happening.
The upside of the ordeal is that this surgical resident had been in the O.R. with the surgeon Walter is to have perform the gall bladder operation.  He was going to give the report to the doctor directly, plus talk to her about Walter's case.  The surgeon would be on-call on the weekend.  Also, if  Walter were to have another severe attack like this, we now have the surgeon's office number and will NOT have to go through ER and all the run-around that got us nowhere!  Yeah!
So today, we have been spending the day at home, resting, being mindless, replenishing our fluid and food intake.  But no word from the surgeon's office.
The plans we had to travel this weekend were cancelled.  Although life must go on, I am relieved that Walter chose to recuperate rather than push through.
And we wait...and pray for God to open the way for surgery so Walter will not have to go through another episode like this again!