Preliminary - While Gloria was awake for a period last night, she really slept pretty well, considering she had surgery the next day.

The morning began with her declaring she was going to cut my hair. I have a hunch she was glad to have something to do ... something to think about other than what lay ahead.

We left a bit after 10 a.m. and arrived at the hospital at the scheduled 10:30 a.m. time. After completing the admissions steps, we went to the surgery area on the second floor of the hospital's east wing. It was then the now all-too-familiar routine of waiting for a nurse to come get her for prepping.

That happened at 10:47 a,m. and I sat in the waiting area and took the opportunity to snooze some.

They collected me at 11:30 a.m. and took me to the prep room where Gloria was waiting. She already had an IV line in her left arm and she was ... also as usual ... complaining she was cold, so a nurse fetched another cover from the blanket warmer.

At one point, she looked down and said something like, "Farewell, ta-tas!"

Surgery - There are two waiting rooms in the surgery area, but they tend to shunt people only into one of them. I knew about the second from Gloria's 2022 brush with cancer. Since I had yet to finish processing Gloria’s column images for the coming Friday, I checked the other room and discovered there (A) was a table - much easier using a computer on it than your lap - and (B), no distracting people!

I received two hourly update calls from Dana, the surgery nurse, who reported all was going well in the first case, and that Doering was just finishing up in the second. She said I should expect a call from him shortly. This second communication was at 2:10 p.m. Since surgery had been scheduled for 12:15, things really went very much according to the norms as the average duration without reconstruction is about 2 hours.

As it turned out, there was a negative side to my choosing the waiting area I did. It seems Doc came looking for me three times, but never checked the second room. He finally gave up, and called - which was all I had been expecting. I alerted him to the second room so he knew about it for future reference.

He didn't have any additional news for me, other than it all went in a routine manner.

Recovery - I'm unsure how much time passed before I received a call from a nurse informing me Gloria would be in Room 329. I figured the "3" meant it was another flight up, but once I reached the third floor, I was a bit perplexed as to where her room was located. All the rooms appeared to start with the number 3, but had four digits. It took a bit of wandering before I came to understand that patient rooms were three digit and all the non-patient ones had four digits. An interesting system, but initially a bit confusing. Since the halls had been empty, there was no one to ask.

Beautiful Bill Snyder Family Stadium - While Gloria was eating her applesauce, we noticed something that made us laugh. For some time, Gloria's sister Gaila has been trying to figure out what to do in regard to housing. Hubby Humberto's folks are all in La Paz. Gaila and Humberto also have a place there, so it works well for them when they are in Bolivia.

But when they are in the United States, it is a different story. One daughter is in the D.C. area. The other is in Kansas City. Gloria is in Manhattan and brother Dave is in Salina. Manhattan did seem to have an "edge" on any other option and they even investigated some apartments near the university. I think Dave was going to help a little as it would solve his parking situation on game days.

When Gloria and I saw the literature for these units, one of the selling points noted was an owner could look out and see “Beautiful Bill Snyder Family Stadium.” I have been a life-long Packers fan, yet not once have I had the dream of being able to awaken in the morning and look out at "Beautiful Curly Lambeau Field." In fact, considering the traffic and all, it sounds to me to be more of a nightmare!

So we both laughed when I opened the blinds in her room to discover we were looking at ... are you ready for this? ... Beautiful Bill Snyder Family Stadium! This is what led to choosing the following for the "TAKE TWO" Table of Contents.

View prompted "We had planned on Malta (left), but received Bill Snyder Family Stadium instead"

Although Gloria was sleepy, she was also hungry and her normally chipper mood can head south if that isn't addressed quickly soon. She could eat whatever she wanted, but kept mentioning a grilled-cheese sandwich!

They only allow two people, other than the patient, in the room at a time and all must be over 18 years of age. I know Mariya is planning on coming by this evening. I think that may be it for today.

Not understanding the insider reference, both nurses glanced at each other, probably thinking ... well, who knows what they were thinking?

But the customer is always right, so one said, “Well some of them do!”

Hers didn’t! Gloria's room was 212, which looks out on a small courtyard that appears to be used as a break area for hospital employees.

She did a bathroom run on her own and then ordered her supper which was - surprise! - a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup topped off with a Coke.

They have inflatable leggings on her lower legs which have hoses running to an air pump. By inflating and then deflating the leggings, blood is forced to circulate in her lower legs and feet. Nurse Nell mentioned that everyone is getting those now and they have materially reduced problems with cramps and clots in the legs of patients. They will take hers off after the next trip to the bathroom.

By then, the anesthetic was pretty well metabolized. She thought she'd take a nap, but then her food came, so she decided eating was of a higher priority.

Mariya arrived just as they locked the doors at the north hospital entrance by the car park. I went to find her and was surprised to discover the whole admitting area was completely locked down! I couldn’t even get to it from the inside of the hospital.

In contrast, the doors to the west-side courtyard were wide open. I directed MB to those.

Gloria's brother Dave and S.O. Marilyn wanted me to get a bouquet for Gloria as you never know how deliveries will work in a hospital. Knowing I would be there all day, but MB would arrive later, I passed that task on to her. She brought, at Dave's suggestion, some of Gloria's favorites ... sunflowers!

Gloria was thrilled when she saw them and Mariya said, "These are from Dave and Marilyn ... and if he doesn't pay me back, they're from me!"

Mariya also brought a mini wildflower puzzle for Gloria to eventually put together.

Mary said Gloria was free to go down to the nursery to see the youngsters, but added she doubted there would be many there. Another change from times gone by is most babies now stay with their mothers at night.

She added that when the hospital had been owned by a Catholic order from Concordia, there was a nun working there who was easy to notice as she was the only one to always wear her habit. When she came to work in the morning, she first walked to the nursery and would watch the babies for a time. Mary said she was fond of saying, "It’s always a good day when you can start it by watching babies!"

Purple Babies - No, this is not something related to the Wildcats.

Being in the birthing area, the "reminders" on the wall message boards spring from related matters. I was familiar with them all, except for the purple baby reference. Mary explained.

It seems that at some point - often at about two months of age - babies will have a period when they will cry so vigorously they turn purple. While this is completely normal, some parents grow frustrated with their inability to calm the child, leading to shaken babies. So this is an item they speak with new parents about.

Tubes and Bottles - Gloria has two drains to take away blood and any lymph that accumulates at the surgery site. The principal reason for the drains is to prevent what is called a seroma - an accumulation of those fluids. There is also the benefit that the doctor can assess how well healing is progressing by the color of the fluid - red early on, to straw later.

A seroma delays healing, but the tubes also provide a path for bacteria to enter. A fairly extensive study from four years ago attempted to establish whether drains were needed at all and, if so, when to remove them. The question is complicated by the fact that all breast surgery is not alike. Breast augmentation procedures seemed to benefit little by the use of drains. In contrast, they were very beneficial in cases such as Gloria’s. Early removal - a day or so after surgery - was associated with a significantly elevated incidence of seroma-related problems. Later removal - a week or more after surgery - had a markedly lower incidence, but virtually no increase in infection rates. So, she will have them a time, depending on fluid flow.

Left: The end of the drain tubing that remains in the surgical site contains openings that allow accumulating fluid to enter the tube and be drained away. Right: The non-surgical end of the tube is fitted with a flexible bulb. It holds the fluid removed from the site as well as provides suction to encourage the fluid to leave the surgical site.

The last foot or so of the portion of tubing left in the surgery site is constructed much like a garden soaker hose. It is peppered with small holes. In the garden, water is applied under pressure to the inside of the tube and small amounts come out to water the plants. But with the drain tubes, a vacuum on the inside created by the bulb on the other end of the tube draws fluids into the tube’s interior and then down toward the bulb.

Also like the soaker hose, there are variations available. Instead of holes, some have grooved segments, while others opt for a flat cloth-like section, but all operate in the same manner.

At the other end of the tube is a small semi-clear bulb whose job only appeared to be to store the fluid. It proved to be a bit more complicated than that! The bulbs are flexible and have two "ports" in one end. One of these is connected to the drain tube coming from the surgery site as would be expected, while the other has a closure and possibly a small tube as well and serves as a drain for the bulb's accumulated contents.

After the tubing is placed and the surgery site closed, the bulb's drain port is opened. The bulb has been molded such that it normally expands to a more-or-less spherical shape. The bulb is compressed by holding in the palm of one hand and using the thumb to press on the opposite side. The other hand is then used to close the drain port and then the bulb is released.

Since the bulb wants to return to its original shape, the cavity within it will now experience a vacuum which will be applied to the drain tube from the surgery site. So the liquids at that site will flow into the bulb by both gravity and the force created by the vacuum.

After some time, the bulb will accumulate a quantity of fluid which will be drained by opening the drain port. The procedure is then repeated for further fluid removal.

The Next Day - For breakfast, Gloria reported enjoying scrambled eggs, French toast, sausages, orange pieces, apple juice and coffee. She informed me I was to document that Humberto said it sounded like what a person received at a fancy restaurant.

Doering dropped by and checked her over and said she could go home after lunch. She said she’s looking forward to ordering another gourmet meal!

I arrived very close to noon and found Gloria enjoying sitting in her rocker. Since she had been moved to the “Women’s area” - which is pretty much like what once was called the maternity ward - the rooms are equipped with rockers. She was waiting on her lunch of salmon and vegetables while Nell was going over the procedure for emptying Gloria’s drain bulbs. Nell was glad I arrived when I had, informing me that this would soon be my task. Nell was also going to instruct me on the finer points of bandaging Gloria’s chest until it struck her that as of Thursday, the bandage was to be permanently dispensed with and since that was the next day, Nell’s course of instruction was actually the last time Gloria would be so bandaged.

Nell asked Gloria if she was ready to see the incision. Gloria got a bit teary-eyed, but then nodded that she was ready.

Nell had brought a bandage used C-section patients, thinking it might be better than the large Ace version. But Gloria found it to be a bit too much like a girdle and rather stiff, so she opted for the Ace!

Gloria’s lunch came and to say she enjoyed it would be an understatement.

Since we had chatted extensively with night-nurse Mary the evening before, I asked Nell about her story. She reported that her husband is two years short of retiring from the Army as a medic. She was originally from Washington state and he from California.

I asked if he had been stationed overseas. She said he had done two years in Afghanistan. I asked if he had any ill effects. She replied that it was rough right after he came back ... she was scared of him at times and would sleep on the living room couch. She told of two incidents ... although it turned into three ... that bothered him.

The first involved being on a patrol. The men were spaced so if anything happened, casualties would be limited. The man in front of him stepped on an IED. Fortunately, it had been buried too deeply and only the one man was killed. Her husband couldn’t hear for a couple of days. He told her that though trained to go away from an explosion, as a medic, he ran toward it.

Another took place as he was leaving. It was one of those premonition things. He was concerned the guy taking his position wouldn’t be as vigilant in protecting his buddies as he had been. When he landed after his exodus, he was told one of his group had been killed by a sniper during her hubby’s exit flight. When he learned the details, he knew there was nothing he could have done different had he been there, but his reaction had nothing to do with logic. He felt guilty!

The third involved a situation when they had been alerted that a group of Taliban would be passing through. They warned the villagers to stay inside, but one man sent his daughter into their garden to fetch something. One of the Taliban fired a rocket propelled grenade into the garden. When her husband arrived later and picked up the girl, she was barely recognizable, but in his mind all he could see was their own daughter. Nell said after that experience, he could only think of the Taliban as evil.

On that uplifting note, we left the hospital around quarter to two with Gloria’s drain bulbs in respective sweatpants pockets. We went to the Dillon’s pharmacy for her pain medications and then home. Since she hadn’t slept well Tuesday night due to the usual hospital activities and the drains not allowing her to sleep on her sides - her personal favorite - she opted for a catch-up sleep and slept quite soundly for a couple of hours. About 10 pm, we drained her bulbs and only about 10 ml total was recovered - which was good.

Bryce, our doctor friend, sent the following comment:

“Before they used these good drains with the "vacuum bulb," these women would often end up in my office with seromas, and I'd drain them fairly easily without much fanfare. I had forgotten about that. I loved doing easy low risk procedures that had impressive results for the patients.”

Made us smile ... on several accounts!

Food and Friends! - According to the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Gloria’s procedure should have reduced her body weight by about two pounds. But friend Linda Puntney is trying to make certain Gloria won’t miss those. She has rallied some of the Gloria’s friends to provide a main-supper dish over a number of the upcoming days.

This caused me to contemplate the difference between men and women. After experiencing a significant health-related event, a male would probably be fortunate to get his buddies to pitch in for a six pack and a bag of chips!