*****
Monday, October 11
Monday Morning, Post Op
We arrived at the hospital at 6am and Jamie was quickly taken back to pre-op with the other first-thing-in-the-morning patients. About 40 minutes later, I was called to go sit with him. At 7:20am he was wheeled back to surgery. At 8:45am the surgeon called to say he was finished and everything looked good. I'm currently (9:00am) sitting in Jamie's room up on the third floor of the little hospital waiting for him to get out of the post-anesthesia/recovery unit. Hopefully he'll be up in about an hour.
I'm really hoping that since this surgery was so quick that his hospital stay will be much shorter. Hopefully, his belly will wake up quicker. Hopefully, he'll look much better when he gets wheeled into the room this time.
*****
Monday, October 11
Monday Afternoon Update
Jamie's doing pretty well. He spent an extra hour in recovery because of pain. His surgical site is his main pain complaint this time. When he got up to the room, he was really nauseous, which seems to be pretty normal for him after surgery. After some Zofran in his IV and a shot of Phenergan in his hip, his nausea has subsided for the time being. We walked around the hospital floor twice.
We've seen lots of familiar faces and lots of people have recognized Jamie from his previous visit. We even learned that two of his favorite nurses (Chuck and Jen, they're Canadian) from his July stay are married to each other! How cool!
Jamie was on a liquid diet as soon as he got back from surgery. At least he doesn't have to wait on a sip of water. He'll probably be on the liquid diet for a little while. Right now he has a dinner tray of jello, broth, tea, and juice. If he's able to keep down something, then he'll be able to have some Vicotin.
*****
Tuesday, October 12
Tuesday Morning
Not much to say this morning. We've only just actually decided to be awake for the day -- not that either of us really slept much all night. Jamie spent some time last night with his new book (Thanks Betsy!) and his new iPod, which is good because last time he didn't want to do much of anything but lay in bed and stare at the tv.
Hopefully today will continue to improve.
*****
Tuesday, October 12
Tuesday Evening
Jamie saw the surgeon for all of about 10 seconds earlier today. "Belly's soft" was about all he had to say, which is good. A soft belly is what we want.
Jamie had a five-lap shuffle around the floor and sat up in a chair for most of the day. He was nauseous right after waking up but it went away. He has eaten chocolate pudding and applesauce, and was able to keep two vicotin down. He is conked out in the bed right now.
Things seem to be going ok.
*****
Tuesday, October 12
Tuesday Evening Update 2
A few minutes after my last email Jamie's night nurse stopped by and said "I think I'll just go ahead and unhook you from the IV."
YAY! He still has the needle in his hand, but he isn't tethered to the pole any more.
*happy dance*
*****
Wednesday, October 13
Wednesday Update
Jamie's continuing to improve. He has eaten real food (the kind that requires chewing) today for lunch and dinner. Keep your fingers crossed - he may get to go home tomorrow!
*****
Friday, October 15
Home!
Jamie came home from the hospital yesterday. This was his shortest hospital stay yet (not counting having his port inserted when he was only at the hospital for a few hours). Everything seems to be working ok. He has some pain and discomfort right now, but hopefully it will continue to lessen over the next few days.
He is happy to have his bed, his tv, his wife-cooked food, and to not be bothered every two hours in the middle of the night. Most night nurses will just peep in on patients during the night hours, but we had one who insisted on turning on the lights and doing a full check every two hours overnight. We missed seeing two of Jamie's nurses who only work weekends. They were awesome night nurses.
