Update: hubby's plastics

My husband and I got home from the hospital at about 8 pm... after a very long day.  We had to be there at 8:30, which meant driving through Atlanta at the worst possible time of the morning.  He went into the OR at 11 and was in recovery by 4:30, so about 5 and a half hours.  The poor guy has four drains, and two of them are filling at insane speeds, although the doctor said that as long as they slow down they're fine (and they have slowed down since we got home, but still... geez!).  Given that my only real experience with recovering from surgery as an adult was WLS, I guess I just didn't wrap my brain around just how big his cuts would be and thus did not expect the draining.  Yes, I knew he would have long incisions... guess I didn't fully think that one through. 

I hate seeing him like this though :/  tomorrow morning I have a very important interview, and then tomorrow afternoon will be my first day of work in a new after school/tutoring job... I can't miss either one, because I can't afford for either one to fall through, so his mom is going to come keep an eye on him while I go to my interview and my sleeve sister Sonjakp (bless her!) will be coming by in the afternoon to check on him while I'm tutoring.  I wish I could stay home and play nurse and take care of him like I need to do, but at least I got him home safely and am doing what I can, right?

This is proving to be a pretty tough week, just because there are so many changes happening at the same time and so many potential opportunities that I really need to make work, all while trying to make my husband's healing my top priority. 

Ultimately, though, I'm more than thankful.  There were no complications, the hospital staff was fantastic, and my husband is fast asleep on the couch right now (which is a great thing because it's the only place he can sleep without having to worry about our cat trying to curl up on his belly), and so far he has held down everything he has eaten and drank. 

Congratulations on a successful surgery!! I am praying everything continues to go well. Just take each day as it comes and do the best you can. As long as your husband is sleeping, he will not know if you are there or not. Good luck.

Thanks Debra :)  I just got back from my interview and he's very much alert and seems to be doing fine.  I'm so proud of how well he's doing!  He's always been a fighter :)

Well..... long time no see C! Glad to hear about Hubby's plastics! Hope he recovers quickly and without incident! Hope all is well with you. Was thinking of you last week, so to log on and see your post brought a little smile to my face.

Hugs!

 

D!!!

Wow, I've missed you! Thanks for the warm wishes... I hope all is well with  you also.  Everything is good here, and will be even better once the job situation gets straightened out... I have to say, though, that things seem to be slowly moving in the right direction on that front, I just have to be patient (which you know is not one of my strengths lol). 

Glad I was able to bring a little joy to your day haha :)  Hugs right back to ya! 

Courtney

Brave....very brave of both of you!!  best of luck for hubbys recovery, and more best of luck on your interview!  breathe deep, all will go as it should.

Sophie

Thanks Sophie!  So far, everything is going great... the interview seemed to go well, but I won't know for sure until tomorrow. 

Congratulations on getting him to the other side of his surgery!

Don't feel guilty about leaving him on his own.  I had a LBL and went home by myself.  It would have been nice for the first few days having someone help hoist me to my feet, but I was able to do it all myself - including drain emptying and bandage changing.  As nasty as the drains look, they're really not a big deal - more of an annoyance than anything else.  He'll spend most of the day sleeping anyway!

Make sure you take care of yourself.

Thanks so much for this, Emelar... I needed to read this :) 

He's been getting up on his own just fine... he's not the type who would let me help unless he had absolutely no other option anyway lol.  The drains are already slowing down significantly from the speed they were filling at last night, and he just ate a whole deli meat and cheese sandwich!  I'm probably more stressed about all of this than he is lol.  His mom is a nurse, so when she left soon after I got home and said everything looked good (ie she didn't feel a need to stick around and help anymore), I realized he's doing well.  So you're right... time to make sure I'm taken care of as well. 

I hope you're doing well also.  Good to hear from you!

Courtney, I am happy to hear your hubby has a successful surgery and that he is recovering well.  I miss you on the boards.  Take care my friend!!!