Yesterday was a long, but relief-filled day. After an early rise, we headed to Sioux Falls for the hospital. Surgery had been scheduled to remove Genevieve's gall bladder. An unfortunate possible effect of pregnancy is the formation of gall stones. We saw a sack of marbles in the ultrasound that was performed a couple of weeks ago. So, yesterday we arrived at Robert's hospital at 8:15.

They took us back to prep her at about 9:15, took her to surgery at about 10, and gave me a pager at that time. At 10:19, I was paged to let me know that the procedure had started. Genevieve had just fed Robert, so he was sound asleep as we waited in the surgery and ICU waiting area. I was expecting to be there a while, so I picked up a copy of Newsweek (from January) and began thumbing through. At 10:48 I was paged again; to my surprise and relief it was to say that the procedure had ended.

A few minutes later, the surgeon was out to talk to me. Everything went beautifully.

An hour and a half later, I was allowed to go back to the room where Genevieve would fully recover and from where she would be released. Robert was asleep for all of this, but he woke up when I changed his diaper. When Genevieve was wheeled into the room, she was alert and feeling pretty darn good.

It wasn't too much longer and Genevieve performed well enough to be released, so at about 2:45 we were on the road home (with a stop a Quizno's for a sandwich for me and a bowl of soup for her, a stop at Sears to pick up some portraits, a stop at Hy-Vee for some chicken bouillon and ground buffalo, and a stop at the pharmacy for some meds).

And the joking has begun:
» Genevieve's lost her marbles.
» You're not the same woman I married...there's something missing.
» Do you have this empty feeling inside?

It's all in good fun. And it's good to have that out.