Jenn is home
Jenn got home around 6:15 tonight. No drains taken out though...she will go back on Tuesday of next week and have at least 2 of them removed and the last one a little bit later. It is good to have her home...
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Reconstruction: Day 4 - Coming home
Just got a text message from Jenn that said "Come get me after work!"...
Reconstruction: Day 3
A good day for the most part yesterday. Jenn was getting up and walking up and down the halls several times during the day as well as sitting in a chair for about 45 minutes. She is healing up nicely and is thinking that she might get to come home tonight (there are 3 other people hoping that as well). It all depends on what the doctor sees today. She has 3 drains in her right now and she thinks that from what the nurses have said, 2 of them might get removed today...
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Reconstruction: Day 2
Not a bad day...a lot of sleep, some pain medication. They did have her sit up in a chair for a while today and start eating solid foods. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful day in the life of Jenn...sometimes that is not a bad thing...
Monday, March 26, 2007
Reconstruction: Day 1
4:45AM - Wake up.
5:30AM - Leave for Lawrence.
6:10AM - Arrive at hospital.
6:45AMish - Get called in to start pre-op items (meet anesthesiologist, answer questions, meet attending nurse for procedure, get IV started, etc.)
7:45AM - Doctor comes in with sharpie to mark out areas for reconstruction, says if all goes well it should be about 4 hours for the procedure, should be done around noon.
8:00AM - Jenn is wheeled off for surgery.
8:10AM - Jim goes and gets breakfast and takes a little nap.
Various times throughout the morning they come and give us updates on her condition, each time they say things are going well.
11:00AM - They come out and say everything is going great and it will be about another 2 hours before they are done.
1:00PMish - Run in to the attending nurse, says they are finishing her up, should be done shortly and that she is grabbing some lunch (how you eat after looking at the insides of people all morning baffles me).
1:40PM - They say the surgery is done and that all went well and that she is in the recovery room while the anesthesia wears off and we need to go another waiting room while that happens.
2:45PM - They say she is getting moved up to her room on the 3rd floor and we need to go to the 3rd floor waiting room.
2:50PM - We get to go to her room and see her. She is in pretty good shape for what just happened. Relatives say hi and then leave shortly thereafter.
Various nurses come in and out about every hour with medicine, blood pressure tests, etc.
The doc stopped by and said all the stars were lined up correctly with her previous hernia surgery and mentioned something about the vein that they needed to use for the procedure was in good shape but there were some other factors that could have hindered the operation but it was in just such a way that it didn't interfere.
She had various liquids throught the evening and pretty much went in and out of sleep when the nurses weren't coming in.
7:45PM - Jim leaves to go back to Topeka to get the kids and take them home and get them ready for bed.
10:20PM - After getting the kids ready for bed, eating dinner and getting some stuff done around the house, I get to write this post and then head off to bed to get ready for what tomorrow holds...
5:30AM - Leave for Lawrence.
6:10AM - Arrive at hospital.
6:45AMish - Get called in to start pre-op items (meet anesthesiologist, answer questions, meet attending nurse for procedure, get IV started, etc.)
7:45AM - Doctor comes in with sharpie to mark out areas for reconstruction, says if all goes well it should be about 4 hours for the procedure, should be done around noon.
8:00AM - Jenn is wheeled off for surgery.
8:10AM - Jim goes and gets breakfast and takes a little nap.
Various times throughout the morning they come and give us updates on her condition, each time they say things are going well.
11:00AM - They come out and say everything is going great and it will be about another 2 hours before they are done.
1:00PMish - Run in to the attending nurse, says they are finishing her up, should be done shortly and that she is grabbing some lunch (how you eat after looking at the insides of people all morning baffles me).
1:40PM - They say the surgery is done and that all went well and that she is in the recovery room while the anesthesia wears off and we need to go another waiting room while that happens.
2:45PM - They say she is getting moved up to her room on the 3rd floor and we need to go to the 3rd floor waiting room.
2:50PM - We get to go to her room and see her. She is in pretty good shape for what just happened. Relatives say hi and then leave shortly thereafter.
Various nurses come in and out about every hour with medicine, blood pressure tests, etc.
The doc stopped by and said all the stars were lined up correctly with her previous hernia surgery and mentioned something about the vein that they needed to use for the procedure was in good shape but there were some other factors that could have hindered the operation but it was in just such a way that it didn't interfere.
She had various liquids throught the evening and pretty much went in and out of sleep when the nurses weren't coming in.
7:45PM - Jim leaves to go back to Topeka to get the kids and take them home and get them ready for bed.
10:20PM - After getting the kids ready for bed, eating dinner and getting some stuff done around the house, I get to write this post and then head off to bed to get ready for what tomorrow holds...
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Reconstruction scheduled
Jenn will have reconstruction on Monday, March 26th. We have to be in Lawrence about 6:30AM. She will be going to a pre-op meeting this Friday with the plastic surgeon and make a visit to the hospital for any pre-work that needs to be done (blood test, etc.). We are told that she will be in the hospital for 3-5 days and that the full revocery period will probably be about 2 weeks. Once this is completed, hopefully this will be the last we have to deal with this dreaded (hmmmm, I can't seem to find the right word for it) monster, life challenge, nuisance, life changer, insurance pain in the a$$, thing.
