I am officially one week post-op. First, I would like to thank all of you who extended your best wishes and prayers to my family and me. We greatly appreciate the outpouring of concern from those who visit this blog. My wife's greatest concern was me making it through the surgery, and guess what, it appears that I did.
The morning of surgery was pretty uneventful. We arrived at Froedtert by 8:30 am and began the check-in process. The staff we worked with in Day Surgery was nice and very accommodating. By around 11 it was time to go to the surgical area. Time for good-byes with my father, prayers with a pastor and good friend, and tears from my wife. As they wheeled me away, all I could do was reassure Mary that I would be fine and pray to God that I was telling her the truth.
While in pre-op, Dr. Wallace and the other members of the surgical team checked in. Their concern and confidence was very comforting to me. The anesthesiologist told me that he would give me something to help me relax. He said that I wouldn't remember anything after that. I bet him that I would remember everything right up to the point when I was put under. He laughed at me. At about 12:30 they took me into the room. I remember being amazed at the amount of equipment that was ready to be used. I also remember Dr. Wallace casually sitting in the back of the room as if he was at a local Starbucks. As they began the oxygen, I remember looking up at the anesthesiologist and saying, "Now, I am going to sleep". And I did. And he lost the bet.
I woke up in recovery and was immediately surprised at how good I felt. And then I tried to take my first deep breath and I was amazed at how bad that felt. It took awhile to get up to my room, but once I did, I settled in nicely. By about 9:30 pm I was up for my first walk. It really is surprising that after such a major surgery, you are able to be up and moving around so fast. I won't lie, it did hurt. And the morphine was my friend for the first night. But within the first day, you're able to move on to less extreme pain medication.
By mid-first day, I was up and walking laps around the 3rd floor wing. I was able to start drinking water. This was not as easy as it sounds. Here's an idea as to how it had to be done. I had four 1-ounce shot glasses of water. Every two minutes I had to take a sip. Each shot was to last 15 minutes. So every hour I was to drink a whopping 4 ounces of water by sipping every two minutes. That was a challenge. The pureed food was the same drill. Very small bites with my new baby spoon and stretched out over 30 minutes.
Dr. Wallace stopped in three separate times to talk with me. He took a great deal of time explaining everything that I needed to do. He made sure there were no questions, and even proved right off the bat that I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. I have never seen a surgeon take the kind of time he did with my family and me. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the only person in the world that is as concerned for my success after this procedure as my wife and I.
My lovely wife and three kids picked me up on Saturday afternoon. All Mary wanted to do was hug me. All the kids wanted to do was look at my surgery scars. Shortly thereafter, there were
two new arrivals at home. Not what you're thinking. A thinner me, and my fancy new Packer teddy bear. Next, I'll talk to you about the first week home. And that will be from the losing side.
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The following is feedback received for this blog:
Scott,
Congratulations! Best wishes for an uneventful recovery. Keep writing!
- Bruce
Yay Scott! So glad to hear that you are doing well!
Keep healing and don't forget to keep us updated with your progress! |