December 18, 2008
9:37 a.m. – Here’s a little background……..Mark had two bad discs in his back. The plan was for a surgeon to open him up, move things (like his intestines, ureter, etc.) out of the way, and for the orthopedic surgeon to then go in and fix Mark’s discs – to put artificial spacers in. They would then close him up and roll him over and open his back up to fix what was wrong in the back – removing part of a damaged disc (I’m sure there’s a better explanation but that’s as medical as I get – medicine is not my forte).
The surgeon, Dr. Thomas, came out first and told us that his part of the surgery was complete and that it went perfect, that Mark is in great health and everything went textbook, exactly as it should have. He said that they had closed the incision and they were now going to roll him over and go in through his back. Dr. Thomas was the “move things out of the way” surgeon and Dr. DeLeeuw was our orthopedic surgeon. Dr. DeLeeuw then did his thing on Mark’s back and when he came out to see us, he used the same word – it went “perfect”. I’m not and have never been keen on the word “perfect” but it sure sounded good today, especially hearing both surgeons use that word.
You can’t ask for anything more than that. I’m still sitting in the waiting room with Keith and Mom. Mark is still in recovery and I should get to see him in about 1/2 hour or so. I had some weak moments just because yesterday Mark admitted that he was afraid. I didn’t cry – I held it together with Keith’s help. Mark said he didn’t sleep two nights before surgery because he was worrying. He was afraid they were going to take parts out of him to get them out of the way. Before surgery he was re-assured by one of the nurses that is not what they would be doing – they would just move things aside and clamp him open – nothing would be removed. He then felt better going into surgery (I think).
Surgery was supposed to take 2 1/2-3 hours and it actually took three hours. Yep – more perfection – right on target. Now we are hopeful that all goes well in recovery and during the rest of his days in the hospital. Dr. DeLeeuw said he would go home Monday but we’re hoping he progresses well and comes home earlier than that. We’ll see and we don’t want to rush his recovery. I’ll update this post when I can. Thanks to our friends and family for your thoughts and well-wishes. We are richly blessed and we know it.
7:24 p.m. – Keith and I came home and Keith is now on his way back to West Lafayette. I made Keith some oatmeal cookies and we had leftovers for dinner. Mark is sleeping mostly – we came home so he could rest and so Keith could get back home to West Lafayette. It was a brutal surgery and Mark said it feels like he has been kicked in the stomach. The pain in his front incision area is very bad – his back incision is not bad pain-wise. He’s on a morphine pain pump but he’s trying not to use it much. That’s Mark – he doesn’t like meds – go Mark! St. Joseph Hospital in South Bend is wonderful – from the lady who checked us in to all of the nurses, aides and doctors. I don’t remember the anesthesiologist’s name, but she was wonderful also. Our check-in nurse was Thom – awesome. The surgery nurse was Rick – he briefed us before surgery and called periodically during surgery – from the operating room – to give us updates. The recovery nurse was a sweetheart but I didn’t notice her name. I’m just trying to document things so Mark can look back when this is all over as he probably won’t remember much.
9:15 p.m. – I called Mark. He sat up in a chair but has bad nausea. They gave him a shot for the nausea and he’s back in bed. He’s still not eating but that’s o.k. He was trying to down a cracker when I called him. He said he told the nurse that I had a hysterectomy and he feels so sorry for me because of the pain he’s now in. She told him that his pain is equal to a hysterectomy and that we are both troupers (my hysterectomy was in 1992 so I’m pretty much o.k. now though – LOL). I think his pain is probably worse than mine was because he is cut front and back. She also told him that tomorrow will be a much better day. They are taking great care of him.