An alarm rang at 4:30 and Jay couldn't eat or drink anything. He had to repeat a shower with the same special antiseptic soap given for last night's cleaning. We boarded the 5:37 SkyTrain towards Production Way. Access to the hospital is quick with only a three minute trip on the SkyTrain. Sapperton is the next stop from our building. We waited and they called heart patients first. Jay still wasn't called and it was about 6:30 and then a nurse ran down to see if he was there. Apparently the change from his previous schedule didn't make it down to the hospital registration staff. All sorts of staff were anxiously waiting for him!
We were taken to a room in the cardiac ward and again Jay underwent another whole-body cleanse. Then he got on a stretcher and had blood taken and other speedy tests. We discovered he was supposed to be in the operating room at 8:00 am. Good. Quicker is good. We rolled him towards the OR at around 7:10. He looked so small on the big stretcher bed!
As it's a hop-skip home I first came back to return Jay's clothing to the house. I stayed only a half hour to return to a waiting room near the OR. One of the nurses also said as it was a close trip I could go relax and return at around noon. So I returned to our apartment from 9:30 to 11:15 too.
Jay didn't get out of the operating room until 12:40. So each graft took close to one hour as he had five! By the way, that's called a quintuple bypass. The nurses set him up in ICU and although there are no visiting hours between 1 and 3 they let me go in to see him. They keep a patient sedated while they monitor them often for quite a few extra hours. So, he won't remember that visit at all. RN Janet was a charmer. I felt very comfortable with her. Jay was surely hitched up to a lot of equipment. Just seeing him, despite the appearance, made my own heart sing.
As they probably won't start waking him up until 8 tonight, I will go back after they've completed the evening shift change. I'm going to call Janet later in the afternoon though.
I am very impressed! And tremendously relieved!