Husband's Surgery / Re-admission to hospital / First NSV!!
Wow... what a week this has been. Hubby's surgery was Monday morning (6/16). Surgery went great, he did amazingly well in recovery, was getting his fluids in, walking, and doing everything he was supposed to do. We were released to go home Tuesday afternoon. About 3 AM Wednesday he went to use the restroom and called me to come in. The toilet was filled with bright red blood. We immediately called the doctor who told me to get him to the hospital ASAP. We live about 50 miles away. I got dressed, grabbed my half-unpacked bag that I had brought home from the hospital the previous afternoon, and took off to the hospital. We went straight to the ER and they took blood and started the ball rolling and our doctor met us there. He was re-admitted and monitored for 3 days. We finally got to come home this morning. It was determined that he had a bleed from his staple line which in all likelyhood had stopped by the time we got to the hospital, but it was still a very scary ordeal. Hubby has a-fib and congestive heart failure and is on several medications. His cardiologist and our surgeon had agreed to stop his blood thinner 5 days before surgery. This could have been worse had he not been off his blood thinner before surgery. I am so thankful that everything turned out so well.
I also have to take a minute to just brag on my doctor, his nurse and the hospital. My surgeon and I have the same personality - maybe that's why we get along well, but in my opinion he is the best surgeon out there! He always takes the time to answer all my questions and make sure I understand both the what and the why behind what is happening. He also has an amazing track record with surgery. My hubby is actually the first person he's had with a bleed in more than 5 years! (Quite possibly much longer than that, but his nurse has been with him that long and this was the first time for her). Even though it was a strain for me being "stuck" at the hospital all week (I'm just 2 weeks post-op and still on pureed foods) the nurses and techs at the hospital went out of their way to try to help me out.
I came home and weighed and I've gained about half a pound this week. I know I didn't meet my goals each day and I was also under a good deal of stress and not sleeping well (lovely hospital cots - not made for overweight people), so I'm not going to stress about the lack of weight loss. Since we got home today I've done well and have met my goals today! Hubby is resting well and working at getting his liquids in. Thanks for any prayers on his behalf. This has been a rough week for him, but praying he will turn the corner soon and start feeling much better.
MY FIRST NSV!!!!
Doc said he was releasing us today, so I thought I'd take my pillows and bag down to the car so there would be less "stuff" to deal with when we finally got to leave. As I walked by the nurses desk the doc was standing there and kind of looked at me and I told him I wasn't in a hurry to leave or anything.. just getting prepared :) I went to the elevator, down to the ground floor, out to the parking lot and to my car, turned around and came back. When I came back by the nurses station, the doc was still there. I stopped and told him where I had just walked. And then I told him that three weeks ago, I could not have walked that far without stopping to rest at least 2 times!!! I can tell the increased energy levels that I have already, and the fact that I CAN walk further without getting winded or tired!!
48F 5'10" HW: 375 SW: 350 CW: 298 as of 9/11/14
