Today is the big day. We've been impatient waiting for this, and now that it's arrived I'm very nervous. Last night I could feel my defensive mechanisms kick in; I start to prepare for the worst, so that if anything goes wrong I'm ready for it. I even woke to a bad dream this morning... the hospital had called to tell me the surgeon had just died. It seemed so real.
Nathan had another great day yesterday. He was able to stand up by himself in the bed for almost 20 minutes. He's very active now, and he'll need that strength for this surgery. Christa said he had a lot of visitors from the hospital all day... doctors, surgeons, nurses... seemingly everyone that has cared for him during his stay. He has really touched a lot of people's lives. I feel very fortunate that he's been cared for so well. I've seen some bad hospitals before; it's nice to see what a really good hospital is capable of.
The operation is expected to start around 1pm and last anywhere from 2 to 8 hours. I guess it just depends on what they find and can get accomplished. They seem to be optimistic that any blockage can be easily removed and that his ostomy can be reversed (i.e., put his intestines back together). There is a concern about his lungs. It's very important that Nathan is able to function without the breathing tube after his surgery. He was on it way too long after his last surgery, and they want to avoid any further possible damage to his lungs.
If all goes well, I should be reporting late tonight that the surgery went well and he will be going home in a week or so. I don't want to get ahead of myself, so I ask for everyone to please follow the blog and keep phone calls to a minimum. Please do not call our cell phones or the house. We'll update the blog and contact our close family once we have information back from the surgery team.
Everyone buckle in, here we go.
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1 comment:
Good luck!
-David
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