Follow Ups and Double Dates

These next few weeks will be a flurry of follow up visits for Ryan! Of course since he was first treated at Hurley, most of his appointments are in Flint. Yesterday and today we found ourselves going to Flint. Yesterday was his appt with the oral surgeon who worked on his jaw that was broken in 2 places. He had one plate put in his chin and that fracture is healing nicely...yeah!  He also had a break further up his jaw and that is why he had his mouth wired shut. That is healing nicely as well, and he said to come back in 2 weeks to have the wires cut! Ryan was secretly hoping to have them cut yesterday! He is so ready to be done with that! On the way home he was looking at all the restaraunts off the highway and practically drooling! I kept hearing, "Mmm, Rally's. Mmm, Buffalo Wild Wings. Even that 99 cent crunchy burrito on that Taco Bell sign sounds good." Sometime after that Mike said, "You should hang out with Angie." I laughed so hard! My sister Angie is about 20 weeks pregnant and everything sounds really good to her right now too!

Today he had an appt with the hand surgeon. We decided to make it a double date and have Mike and Ang take us down...they are just so much fun! We just had our first double date with them over Thanksgiving weekend at Buffalo Wild Wings. Ryan is really so glad he had wings and his favorite onion rings that day! We laughed a lot on the way down. One thing I remember is my sister was talking about baby furniture and car seats. Ryan commented that she should look for one that's been in an accident....you know those work!

Here's what happened when we first arrived for our appointment:
Nurse came in to take Ryan's vitals. She put the thermometer up to his mouth (which is wired shut)
Ryan: It's not going to work that way!
Nurse: Oh! Well, I didn't read your file.
Mike: It's okay. It's so long I wouldn't have read it either. Besides, we'd really like to be seen sometime today.

Ryan then told us about another nurse from Hurley that had come to prep him for hand surgery. She was reading through his file and after awhile she stopped and looked up at him. She continued to flip pages and read some more then looked up again and said, "You've been busy!" He replied, "I ran with the bulls in Pamplona."

So back to today's appointment. Ryan had some broken bones in his hand just above the wrist. He had 3 pins put in to hold the bones together. The pins stick out of his hands and they have small yellow caps on them. Then the hand is wrapped in gauze and had a hard splint on it. Today's x-ray showed that his hand his healing well so the dr. pulled the pins out and put on a regular cast. You should have seen the pins come out! The dr. yanked them out with a pair of pliers! And they were like 4-5 inches long! We left with a "gumby green" cast!

I know the appt sounds short and sweet, however it really took awhile. His appt was at 1:00 and we had to go down for an x-ray and then back up to the dr's office. We hadn't had lunch before the appt, and when I walked into the waiting room after having the x-ray I noticed a hospital tray of food on a nearby chair. I was eyeing the sandwich that looked too yummy for a hospital tray. The owner of said tray must have noticed the way I was drooling. He said, "You can have that sandwich. No one has touched it or even breathed on it."
Of course I said, "No thank you." However, when he stood up to leave he put the sandwich in my hands and he gave my sister a container of chili. The sandwich looked and smelled really good, but should I eat food from a stranger? And should I eat it in front of Ryan, who couldn't eat anything? Finally, I gave in! The smell was too good, and I was feeling a bit light headed from not eating! I ate the sandwich from a stranger! Ryan kept eyeing the bacon and said he could smell the mayo. The chili did not get eaten, but only because we did not have a spoon. We did offer Ryan a sip of chili through the straw, but he passed on that. It's been several hours since I ate the sandwich and I haven't been sick yet. So it must be safe to assume that God provided a lunch for me and Mike (he ate the other half) in a most unexpected way!

It's been such fun spending time with my honey, my sister and her honey these last few days. I'm excited for the day when we can go on a double date again....one that doesn't involve a visit to a medical center!