Operation Pinocchio, Final Cut

So. The surgery was a success.

I told Mom last night about the appointment this morning and her first response was to act as if she'd known about it all along. But then she started to get anxious, asking who we were going to see, when and why. Because of the stress, the answers never sank in and she kept repeating the questions every five minutes or so. Finally, when she asked for the third time what was needed of her I replied, "Only this. Go to bed and get a good night's sleep." Which, surprisingly, she did.

I woke her at 7:45 and she had plenty of time to dress and have a small breakfast before we left. Three times in the car she asked where we were going and who we were going to see. When we turned into the drive to the doctor's office she said, "Why are we turning here?" On the entrance walkway she stopped and said, "Who are we going to see, now?"

Unfortunately, as she was being taken back into the surgical suite her nerves got the better of her and she had an accident. The nurse called me back and basically freaked out about not being able to deal with the situation and how I would have to take care of it. She kept going on and on while I explained I would need to go home to get a change of clothes for Mom. I left while she was still freaking. When I returned, the doctor had just finished the operation and a different nurse was applying a bandage to Mom's nose. The accident hadn't bothered either of them. Mom went and changed clothes.

The surgery itself only took fifteen minutes. We then had another twenty minute wait for the biopsy results. They came back clean and now we just have to return next week to have the stitches removed. (If I can get Mom to keep the bandages on. The wound was still bleeding a little as we drove home and she picked at it until the gauze came loose and I had to replace everything. Since then we've caught her trying to put hand lotion on her nose. It could be a long week.)