21 staples later...

Pre Op picture

I wanted to give you all a little update while I am awake. The pain medicine makes me pretty sleepy, so there are times when I float in and out of consciousness. According to my surgeon, Dr Glasgow, the surgery went seamlessly. He actually said it was probably his easiest of the day. As expected It took me a long time to wake up from the anesthesia. When I did start to wake up, I was in quite a bit of pain, which prompted the nurse to give a normal dose of pain medicine. What ever it was made me incredibly sleepy, to the point they, the nurse and Sean, had a hard time keeping me awake. For then next few hours, they spent time yelling at me and trying to get me to talk. All I wanted to do was sleep but every time I would fall asleep, I would stop breathing. It was almost like I had sleep apnea. Once I was at the point of waking my self up when I wasn't breathing they figured I was going to be fine.

The hospital was completely full due to the flu and because of the situation at the hospital, I ended up spending more time in the recovery room because they didn't have a bed for me in the actual hospital until about 1:30 in the morning. Which was actually very fortunate because the Doctor said I might have to camp out in the recovery room all night. Once we got to the room, they tried to get me to use the toilet, which ended up just being a kamode next to the bed but I felt so nauseous and dizzy that they had to literally pick me up and put me back into bed. The rest of the night was spent with them trying to wake me up every hour to make sure I was still alive. Well they also had monitors to make sure I stayed alive. I'm not very much of a fan of getting yelled at when all I want to do is sleep but I understand why they do it.

In the morning I could feel the anesthesia start to wear off and that allowed me to get up and move a little more. Doctor Glasgow came in at about 6:45 in the morning to talk to me about the surgery and gave me a long talk about how I needed to be up and moving as much as possible. I agree with him but I really have to get my legs back under me before I can do too much. He also explained that they were able to do the surgery without having to move my GJ tube, which is a HUGE blessing because if they would have moved it, it would have resulted in another whole in my stomach and I would have to wait at least 3 months before they would be able to take it out. He also explained that they would be starting me on a clear liquid diet, meaning I was allowed to have things like Apple juice and Chicken broth, It was kind of funny though when the brought me the chicken broth they quickly took it away because it had gluten in it. So the only kind of broth I was allowed was vegetable. 

One of the nice things about the rooms here is that they are private and they have a couch that folds out into a bed, which allowed Sean to be able to spend the night with me and be there for me the next day, He said it wasn't very comfortable but It beat having to sleep in a chair. I'm so blessed to have him here through all of this. He has been quite the trooper and hasn't shown, to me anyway, how hard this really has been on him. 

My goals for the 23rd were pretty much to get me out of bed and to the bathroom and to manage my pain levels. Pain is an interesting thing and how they manage curtain aspects of it is a bit of a marvel. I currently have a nerve block in my stomach to block the pain from where I was brutally cut open. It is nice because that part of my stomach is numb and most of my pain comes from the basketball game (or rugby game as Dr Glasgow called it) that they played on top or with my intestines. I was also given the option to push a button that would deliver pain medicine through my PICC line, which I really only used if I wanted to take a nap because with in about 5 minuets I would get so sleepy. Hence the being in and out of consciousness all day.

I am so very grateful for everyones prayers and thoughts for me. I really feel like everything went so well because of all the fasting and prayers that have been said on my behalf. So thank you thank you thank you!

My gear...

Post surgery picture.