Chicks Dig Scars

I can’t believe that it is already Wednesday. For just sitting around all day staring at Johnny, the time seems to be going by quickly.

Johnny’s big adventure for the day was walking an entire lap around the unit. At first he started out by holding on to me and Laura, the nurse, but by half way around he felt steady enough to let go and fly on his own. Since he still has the epidural in, that was no small feat.

Once he got back to the room, he decided to sit up in the chair for an hour and while he did that I gave him a little bath and loaded him up with lotion. I tried to make it “enjoyable” -- if you know what I mean -- but for some reason Johnny really wasn’t that in to it. Something about that complete abdominal incision that was a total mood killer.

By the way, I counted his staples today. FIFTY-SIX! That’s right, he has 56 staples holding his belly shut and the cute thing is, they curved the incision around his belly button! The incision itself is about 12 inches long and he has another incision on the left where the pump was placed that is about 4 inches. Seriously, chicks dig guys with scars. I told him I’m going to parade him around the beach this summer and I’ll be like, “That’s right, I’m with the dude with the totally hot belly scars!”

He has made a hobby out of his inspirometer (the breathy thingy that keeps you from getting pneumonia) and is a champion at that. He showed off for the respiratory therapist today and she only stayed 30 seconds because she said he had it down pat.

The steady parade of doctors has been very entertaining. Dr. Yancy and his associates (a couple of 2nd-year surgical residents and a 4th-year med student) have stopped in twice a day. I really like Dr. Yancey. He reiterated how well the surgery went and said that the colon was fantastic. Then of course he said, “But you know that your liver is a mess.” And we do. Again he said that if the chemo will work on the big lesions, then the little ones (“innumerable”) will just go away as well. We aren’t supposed to concentrate on the number because if it will work for one it will work for them all. I like his way of thinking.

They stayed and chatted for several minutes tonight and Ginger offered them all chocolate. I think they missed lunch and possibly dinner because they wolfed it down. I’m thinking about making them all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for tomorrow because they might be working too many hours to actually get any meals in. They really do put in a crazy amount of hours.

The anesthesiologist (NOT Dr. Hotty-With-a-Body) stopped in to check on the epidural and PCA pump. They upped his PCA to every 10 minutes instead of every 15 minutes yesterday, but today he hasn’t needed it nearly as often. I think the epidural was the greatest idea on the planet!

I have to give MAD PROPS to the nursing staff here. We have had the most amazing care. Stephanie, Colleen, Laura, and Kat have been his only nurses so far and I’d like to haul them all home and put them to work at SJRMC. Wow. Do you know that we have not waited on a call light, or any request for more than a minute . . . if that. Each one of these girls has been great and very caring and professional. The charge nurse has stopped in on each shift as well to make sure things are going OK. Also, an administrator (Director of Nursing) stopped in to say hi and to make sure we were being accommodated appropriately. In addition to all of those people, they have a person come in to evaluate you for sleep disorders as one of their Performance Improvement Initiatives. I was totally impressed by that. She told us that so many with sleep apnea go undiagnosed because medical professionals don’t ask the correct questions. Johnny was a “low risk” for sleep apnea. Good to know.

I guess you could say that I have been very impressed with quality of care we have received.

Johnny is sleeping pretty comfortably right now, and will basically be out for the night, except for when they come in to give meds and take vitals. They have been great about lumping everything together to minimize waking him.

Tonight is my turn to stay with Johnny and Ginger’s to stay at the hotel. Neither one of us ever want to go back to the hotel, but we both realize that there is no reason for us to both exhaust ourselves. Splitting the duties just makes sense, although I always feel like the loser when it is my turn to go to the hotel.

We are hoping for another great day tomorrow. He has a nuclear medicine test at some point which will check the function of the pump (Important Test!). They are also planning on taking out the epidural and possibly his Foley catheter. He realllllly wants the Foley out! Tomorrow he will possibly start soft solids, if his belly cooperates. Then after that the big goals are a fart and a poop! If he can get that accomplished, then we could be home by Sunday. Not sure yet, but we should know more about when we are coming home by Friday.

Thanks again to everyone keeping my family fed and cared for at home (THANKS, AMY!!! J). And to my Class of ‘85 Facebook Friends -- you guys have made my time here actually enjoyable! It has been so fun to get the packages. Johnny got his package today and everything in it was so awesome. It came in a really cool blue and gold (school colors!!) gift box/wrapping. There was a great big yellow cup in the package that said, Healing is Progress and on the other side, Believe. I love that! Johnny is wearing the blue fuzzy socks right now. Thanks again, friends.

Hope everyone stayed warm with all the snow! Keep the prayers coming!