As exciting as the news was about the surgery and getting my new hip, it was also a little terrifying. The doctor was in San Antonio. Which meant WE would be in San Antonio for surgery and recovery.

I don’t know about where you live, but in Texas, Summer Band is big. And it starts the first week of August, just like football 2 a days. In an attempt to carry on with life, our girls would be staying with friends while we went to San Antonio. Once again, we found ourselves amazed at the generosity of friends. We had no idea how long I would be in San Antonio after the surgery, but it was too long for a 16 and 13 year old to be staying at home alone.

The morning of August 3rd arrived. We had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am (thank goodness my dad lived in San Antonio and we were able to stay at his house the night before). After settling in the pre-op area, there was a knock on the door. It must have been about 6:30 in the morning, and in walked one of our pastors from First United Methodist Church Round Rock. He had gotten up early and driven to San Antonio to pray with us before the surgery. Later, I learned several other friends had come down to sit with my mom and my husband while I was in surgery. I am forever grateful for those types of friends..

One of my fondest memories of pre-op (besides our pastor praying for us) came from a lady in the bed across from me. My doctor had an intern who was responsible for checking on the patients before surgery. I will admit, he was better looking than Dr. McDreamy (for Grey’s Anatomy fans). After my personal Dr. McDreamy left, the lady across from me sat up and asked “Was that your doctor? I want to have whatever surgery you are having!” Obviously, she didn’t want to have my surgery, she just wanted my doctor.  Yes, ladies, he really was that good looking, but he was also married with 5 kids.

The clock continued to tick and I was getting more anxious with each second. My doctor came by to let me know another patient had jumped ahead of me. It was a young boy about 2 years old and they wanted to get his procedure done first so he didn’t get too anxious. Even though the butterflies in my stomach were starting to multiply, I understood relieving the anxiety for the boy and his parents. We continued to wait in pre-op. Dr. McDreamy came by several times to give us an updated time frame and we watched as other patients came and went.

As the time started to draw near, we got another update. It seemed one of the medical implant reps had been in a minor car accident. My initial thought was what does that have to do with my surgery. Another interesting fact learned, when you have a medical device ‘installed’ a representative from the company is present to ensure the part is used/placed. Another thing I could have gone a lifetime without knowing.

FINALLY, it was time to go under the knife. The next thing I knew I was waking up. Expecting family and friends to be in the room I looked around and saw no one. Not even a nurse.

As is the case after waking from surgery, it takes a while for your brain to process what has happened. I looked down at my leg and noticed it was bandaged all the way down to my ankle. A nurse finally came in and noticed I was awake. When I asked her about my family, she had no idea where they were.

Meanwhile, in the waiting room…a funny (at least it is funny almost 5 years later) story unfolded. After the surgery, the surgeon came out and spoke to my family and told them everything went well. At that point, I was in recovery and when I was moved to a room someone would let them know the room number. Several hours passed and they began to worry if there was a problem in recovery. Finally, my surgeon came out to speak to another family and noticed my husband still sitting in the waiting room. He asked him why he was still there. It seems someone had fallen down on their job. THREE hours after I had been taken to a room, my family finally found me.