Here's a timeline of how our day went yesterday:
0600 - Jim and I arrive at the hospital and are checked into Pre-Op
0630 - Jim is examined by a nurse, get his IV and super-attractive leggings, and meets with the anesthesiologist.
0730 - Jim is wheeled back to the OR for his surgery. I go for some much-needed breakfast and wait to hear back from Dr. Trotta.
0820 - Dr. Trotta comes out and tells me the surgery went well. Jim didn't lose any blood, and Dr. Trotta was able to remove his gallbladder without any difficulty or complication. Jim's gallbladder had a lot of scar tissue and lesions on it, and Dr. Trotta told me he was confident Jim's gallbladder was very diseased and it needed to be removed.
0930 - Jim is finally out of recovery. He does not metabolize narcotic medication very well, and his trip out of anesthesia was rough for him. He is moved to his Post-Op room and is very incoherent.
1030 - Jim wakes up and is restless. He tells me he wants to get out of bed and stretch his legs, so the nurse and I help get him up. He makes it to standing, is hit with overwhelming nausea, and has to get right back into bed. The nurse and I both encourage him to rest and relax, something Jim is not very good at doing!
1130 - Jason and Sarah came to visit. Sarah's mother had the same surgery as Jim did by the same doctor immediately following Jim's surgery and was also recovering a few rooms down from us. What a coincidence! Jim is still very much out of it and still suffering some nausea from the narcotics. Jason and Sarah take me out to lunch while Jim goes back to sleep.
1230 - I come back from lunch. Jim had been getting some much-needed rest during this time so I left him alone to sit in the waiting room and return phone calls from family and friends.
1300 - Jim's father comes to visit. Jim is still very out of it, so we don't stay long to talk to him.
1530 - The drugs are wearing off and Jim is more alert. The nurses are concerned that Jim has not been able to walk or urinate yet, so we get him out of bed and take the first of many laps around the halls. Jim is still experiencing some nausea, but is able to walk successfully around the unit. That one lap was more than enough for him at the time, and he went straight back to bed, exhausted.
1630 - Jim gets up for lap #2. This time he is able to use the bathroom, and is walking much better. He is also starting to pass the gas from the surgery, and is no longer experiencing much nausea. He is able to eat a Popsicle without any problems.
1700 - I leave the hospital to run a quick errand and take a nap. While I am gone, Dr. Trotta comes to see Jim and clears him to go home that night. Jim's parents also stop by the hospital to visit and bring him a few movies. Jim orders some soup and pudding, and is able to eat almost the whole bowl of soup and a few bites of the pudding without any trouble.
1900 - I come back to the hospital, and find Jim much better than when I left him. We take a few more laps around the unit. The nurse takes out his IV and helps Jim get ready to leave.
2000 - Jim finally is ready to leave and refuses the wheelchair. He walks all the way to the car without any trouble! We leave the hospital and stop by a pharmacy to pick up his prescriptions.
2100 - Jim and I are finally home. Jim has some pain from the sitting in our car for an hour, but is doing well. Once he gets out of the car, he is able to relieve the gas pain by walking around.
Today - Jim slept almost 12 hours last night and has not taken any pain medication since the last dose of narcotic he had in his IV yesterday morning. He is able to sit on the couch and work on his computer. He will be on a liquid diet for the next five days, and is keeping water and a slushie down just fine. Jim tells me he definitely notices something has been removed from his body, and his stomach feels different than it did before the surgery, but the horrible gas pains he used to get from eating before the surgery are gone. He also is still very tired from surgery, and although he was planning on returning back to his normal schedule starting tonight, I think he will not be able to do everything he has planned.
Thank you for your prayers and support! We have been blessed by all the calls, text messages, and visits from friends and family. Jim and I are so thankful that his surgery went well and he has had a reasonably easy recovery so far!
