I have tried to write this post several different times, but then would get interrupted and found that it was much quicker just to put a quick update on my facebook page so for those of you who follow this blog and not my facebook, I apologize for the delay. And for those of you reading this as well as the facebook updates, I apologize for the repeats!!
We arrived in Indianapolis Wednesday evening and had a relaxing night and a decent night of sleep- the hardest part was the alarm that went off at 4:30am!! We made it to the hospital just before 5:30 and didn't have to wait very long and Ross and I were called back to the pre-op triage area. Ross' parents were also with us so they waited in the lobby. For the next 1 1/2 hours it was a steady stream of nurses, anesthesiologists, med students, more nurses, the doctor's assistants and then it was time for Ross to head to the OR. I found his parents and we headed to the surgical waiting area. Surgery was complete in about 1 1/2 hours and then Ross went to recovery while we waited another couple hours for him to be up in his room. By late morning we were able to head up to see him and how he was doing. That first day (Thursday), Ross was pretty much out of it. He was able to talk to us some, but after talking to him more today he doesn't really remember much of that first day:):) He was on a morphine pump and because of the risks of being so relaxed that you stop breathing, he was also on a respiration machine that monitered how many breaths he would take/minute- the goal was not to go below 8 breaths per minute; however, every time Ross would fall asleep it would take about 5 minutes and he would be down to about 5 breaths and then all the machines would start beeping and the morphine pump would shut off!! All of this to protect the patients, but also quite annoying for the patient who justs wanted to sleep:):) Luckily most of that is now a blur to him!
By Friday, Ross was doing so much better. He was off the morphine pump, which then allowed him to also be off the respiration machine. He was able to sit in a chair for a few minutes and get up and head to the bathroom. The most difficult parts of that 1st full day post surgery is he still couldn't eat solid food- just jello, soup broth and liquids and he was still hooked up to an IV and also anesthesia lines to both sides of his incision (which goes the entire length of his abdomen). All these wires makes mobility a bit of a challenge- as does the inability to completely straighten up. Friday afternoon brought a few other challenges- Ross is not a person who sits, let alone lies around for an extended period of time and never on his back so after 2 days of laying on his back and not really moving, he developed a pretty intense back ache. This has now lasted from Friday afternoon into Saturday evening. It is improving some, but it will continue to improve the more he is up and around.
Saturday saw big jumps. His parents headed home Friday evening so it was just the 2 of us and today we did LOTS of walking. Luckily Indiana University Hospital is quite large so the floor Ross is on has plenty of hallways for us to travel down!! He was able to eat solid foods today, which was a huge step and the IV came out- at least a couple less wires to manuever around!! Tomorrow morning the anesthesia lines will come out and then he will have passed all the tests needed to head home. Ross has been a champ through all of this, but for those of you who know Ross this doesn't come as any kind of a surprise. He gives 110% in whatever it is he is doing!
I have actually been staying at the parent's house of my college roommate who live about 15min away. They don't really like people to stay in a semi-private room (and the only place to sleep would have been a pretty hard chair) or down in the visitors lounge. I had a wonderful offer to sleep in a quiet house and a real bed not very far from the hospital so I have used it! It has really been a blessing to be able to leave the hospital for a while, get a good restful night of sleep and be refreshed to head back to the hospital in the morning!
And finally (sorry this has gotten really long) the reason we went through this major lymph node removal surgery- we were surprised in one of walking adventures by someone from pathology (we were expecting to have to call the doctor at the beginning of the week) they were able to dissect and test the lymph tissue and found NO cancer cells in ANY of the lymph nodes!!!! This is why we opted for surgery and not just surviellance- so we could hear before we left the hospital that ROSS IS CANCER FREE!!!! He will have regular bloodwork and CT scans over the next 5 years, but the cancer is GONE with a very small chance (about 5%) of returning. Our cancer journey is nearing an end. Just another 3-4 weeks for Ross to recover. Thank you to all of you for your prayers, words of encouragement, and support during all of this. We have seen God's hand at work and know the Power of His healing.
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