Army Wife Challenge #57

Well I experienced true Army health care in the form of the hubby having shoulder surgery on Friday. He's been dealing with pain since he returned from Iraq (in August 2011). So after 11 months of pain, shots, useless physical therapy, useless painkillers, and useless PA's, he was finally able to get surgery.

Let me tell you a little about army medicine. It is so not the same as civilian medicine. As a civilian, at a civilian hospital, if you want to be with your loved one up until they go into surgery, you can make it happen. As a veteran of hospital regulations (my mother had cancer twice and I worked with the Advocacy Center to support sexual assault survivors as an advocate), I am usually able to get through the red-tape. However, when dealing with the federal government, it's different. There is no "let me talk to your supervisor"... I found out later why they wouldn't let me be in with him for the nerve block procedure; turns out they mistook the husband's neck for a pin cushion. The surgery before his apparently went long and I happened to run into the OR doctor in the hall asking about the progress. He told me I had waited patiently and he would sneak me in to see him...so it turns out the rules are only the rules if you talk to the wrong person... next time I know! So I guess that part it's as different from civilian hospitals as I thought...

The surgery took a few hours. Then the surgeon came and talk to me a little but wanted to wait till the hubby woke up and tell us exactly what he did. He took a little long coming out of the anesthesia (which was quite scary I must admit). When we finally got to his room, the nurse tried to get ahold of the doctor, but in the words of the nurse ( 6' 3" male nurse, I might add ;) "It's Friday, he probably got outta here already." So I still am not entirely sure what they did to him. *sigh* That part is different from the civilian world...

I met some other Army wives in the waiting area. It was fun discussing our husband's careers. One wife married her husband right out of high school, 15 years later she still loved him but it was hard now that he was having injuries and finished 5 deployments... She also had her mother-in-law living with them (and 3 kids, the oldest a senior in high school) in base housing. One thing I found interesting talking to these wives was that 3 of the 4 had family living nearby. Their parents or in-laws had moved nearby when they got stationed at Ft Hood to help them out. It was interesting because I have never heard of this happening. Now that I think about it though, Ft Hood is really an easy location for such a move. The cost of living is low and retired parents could afford to live near the grandkids and help out during deployments. It was nice to know I'm not the only army wife still getting some help from the parents to survive this lifestyle.

The husband is doing as well as can be expected. I'm struggling with the sleep deprivation of 4-6 hour medicating and feedings, but surviving :). He makes it easy. So appreciative and lovable about it. Note to those who haven't dealt with husband surgery yet: Invest in a baby monitor so you can sleep in your own bed and still hear him if he needed you. That way at least the little sleep you get is comfortable!

Physical therapy starts tomorrow... I decided to take off one more day of work to take him to that and hopefully talk to the surgeon.



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