Mom had a very hard time in the recuperating room. She was there until 8 p.m. on Monday, waiting for a room to open up in the Neurosurgery Intensive Care floor (NICU), also on the 4th floor where she had previously been.

When Christy and Lex went in, they met Dr. Jekyll. She was wonderful and in good spirits and apologized to them profusely for being bossy and demanding. This was sometime around 4 p.m. I guess. About an hour and a half later they allowed Susana and me to go in, and we met Mr. Hyde. Her mouth was very dry and when I tried to get her not to talk because it would make it worse she not only refused but said she had to talk and I was the one being bossy. Mom's mood was very black and complained that she was in the world's worst place and would not have made it were it not for the one angel there who stood by her the whole time, nurse Michael. She said the worst part was a patient who was deaf. When the staff tried to get him to do something like wiggle his toes, he would yell at the top of his voice that he did not understand. Mom yelled back, "get him a pen and pad." The staff laughed but could not find a pen and pad. They have thousands of dollars worth of equipment and not one pen and pad around with which to write simple instructions to a deaf person. Something to think about. Disabled people need full access in hospitals too.

Nurse Michael, a 20-year veteran of the profession, was amazing. His professionalism and caring were top-notch. I suspect you don't get to be a recovery room nurse unless you're very good at it. But Michael and the whole staff down there had their hands full with a full ward because of a shortage of rooms in other floors. It was a domino effect and they were doing the best they could.

We went back to the waiting room and about an hour later Michael came out to give us a report. "I hammered her," he said. And we all laughed. Michael said that she was sleeping and would probably sleep for the rest of the night. He warned us that trying to spend the night (which none of us wanted to do,) would be pointless. Mom would be drugged and the room would be brightly lit and with lots of action during the night. Anyone staying there other than the patient was guaranteed a sleepless experience. So after deliberating our next step, we decided to take up Vicki's suggestion to dine at wonderful little Italian place nearby, Buon Appetito. Paul joined us. It was every bit as good as she said it would be and we had a great time not only because of the delicious food but because of Justino (Tino) Cantú, a guitar player that looked like he was born about the time the guitar was invented. He serenaded us with beautiful music and funny banter.

We all got some rest last night. I cooked breakfast for Christy, Lex and Susana and then we parted ways. Christy and Alexie went back home and Susana and I headed for the hospital.

Arriving at the NICU bed 2 we found a very groggy and crabby Mom. I think she was upset that none of us had been there for awhile but we needed to get a way for a bit or we would have been useless too. So no apologies.  We helped her get better situated in her bed and eat a little food. The nurse, Ruth, also went to Presbyterian Pan American School in Kingsville but about 20 years after I did. That's a big coincidence because the school is rather small. Ruth told us that Mom had a bad night last night, fitful and restless. I went down and got her some sherbet and after taking a couple of sips of that she dozed off.

Susy and Julia were here this morning and just now left after briefly going in to see Mom. According to Ruth, the plan is for Mom to have another MRI today and then hopefully move her back to a private room in the same section where she was prior to the surgery.