Let’s Chat: One step at a time

By Linda Tooth on February 18, 2026.

It is Sunday afternoon and I am sitting at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary and it’s been a full 48 hours since my partner had surgery to remove a lesion from the outer part of his liver. I want to take a few paragraphs to reflect on what those hours have looked like for us.

First of all, we were told he had to check-in for his procedure at 9:15 a.m. on Friday. I guess we did not understand that the check-in process was to take place at McCaig Tower, which houses the day surgery department at Foothills Medical Centre.

Unfortunately, we were sent to a few different places and our level of stress was rising when an amazing volunteer named Maria helped us navigate the hallways of the Foothills Medical Centre encountered to the McCaig Tower.

Once he was checked in we then sat for a few hours while we waited for him to be called for pre-op. I knew his surgery was scheduled for noon and that it would take approximately an hour to complete.

From there he would spend about 1-2 hours in recovery before being moved to his room. That meant he should be in his room around 4 p.m. So I decided to do some errands and was back at the hospital by 4 p.m.

Between 4 p.m. and 5:50 p.m. I lost count on the number of times I asked if he was in his room and was told ‘no, he was still in recovery.’ I almost went feral and barged into recovery looking for him when I was told he was finally in a room at 5:50 p.m.

I stormed up to the 10th floor like a storm-trooper from Star Wars and asked him what on earth took so long. That is actually the watered down version of what I actually said, but I think you get my point.

Anyway, he told me that coming out of anesthesia for him took longer than expected.

On Saturday he started to eat small meals and began walking up and down the hallways. The doctor was in to see him and informed him the surgery was successful and he (doctor) did not see anything else in the area of the liver that was worrisome.

That to me was the best news ever. As we all know, it can be very draining to sit in a hospital all day, so I decided to go shopping at Market Mall while he was sleeping. I met the best sales clerk at Sephora who is also menopausal and we chatted about hair loss and thinning.

She recommended some hair products to try. I left there feeling a little bit better about life – unfortunately my credit card is a bit worn out.

Today was a very groggy day for my partner. He spent a lot of the day sleeping. I was a bit concerned, as when he woke up he looked very spaced out. I guess it does take a while for the anesthesia to wear off. I’m hopeful each day will be better and that we will be able to go home soon.

Stay tuned next week as I will give an update on how he is doing.

Have a Meowtastic Day and keep reading!

Linda Tooth is manager of philanthropy and volunteer engagement, YMCA of Southeastern Alberta