Thursday Update #2

Mom and I left the hospital for the day about 5:15 pm and by then Dad had already done 4 out of the 5 walks that the staff planned for him today. That's 2 days in a row so that's good to keep his muscles looser and prevent blood clots. They also removed the oxygen tube to see if he could get enough oxygen on his own. He seemed to do well with this. They also reduced the dosage on his pain killer which seemed to make him too sleepy.

So we'll see how he does tomorrow AM. I head back to Fort Worth Friday afternoon since I have a scholarship awards banquet to set up for on Saturday morning. Depending on how Mom and Dad do will determine if I make another trip to Houston during his recovery.

Thursday

Mom & I arrived at the hospital about 9:15 am today. Dad was sleeping so we let him be for awhile and camped out in the surgical waiting area on his floor. He was awake again at 10am when Mom went to check on him. When I went in Mom said the nursing staff had taken him for a walk and set up his feeding tube so he is currently on a bag that should last 36 hours. It looks like smooth oatmeal. Mom will have a class on Saturday afternoon to learn how to care for his feeding tube since he will be on that for a few weeks.

Just a bit ago, the nurse took out the stomach tube that was draining out his nose since he has the feeding tube in use and they don't want to just take out the food that was just put in. It didn't look like fun but hopefully his sore throat will start to feel better without the tube and with the help of the Cloraseptic spray they gave him to use.

We're still working on getting his lungs clearer - he's going to have another breathing treatment and we're still trying to get him to do the breathing exercises every hour.

Wednesday

Dad, aka Grumpola, was out and about in his area of the surgical floor today. He did a couple laps around the nurses/doctors station 4 times today. We know he's feeling better when he's grouchy and thinks we are nagging him. Anyway, he ate a couple more Blue Bell sugar-free popsicles since he's not getting food orally or by his feeding tube yet. Maybe tomorrow on the feeding tube but we'll see. His blood pressure is doing well thanks to the medicine he's getting in his IV every 6 hours or so. They had to re-suture one of his drains this afternoon and Mom was able to observe. (I was down the hall doing some work.) They did this so that it would stop leaking.

The main thing now is to get him to do the breathing exercises every hour he's awake like they want him to so he can reduce the congestion in his lungs and reduce his risk of pneumonia. I think I might have gotten his attention when I told him that if he gets pneumonia, he'll have to be in the hospital even longer! Taking turns with Mom sitting in his room was a good plan plus we phoned-a-friend to get some extra patience. So if you talk to Dad any time soon (he was on the Crackberry today) please back us up on the breathing exercises! Thanks again...

More from Tuesday

After our break from the hospital this afternoon, Mom and I went to see Dad again from 6-7pm. He was awake and watching some TV. He'd already had 2 popsicles and requested/ate a 3rd while we were there. Dr. Pisters had been by to seen Dad while we were away (of course!) and said Dad was doing well. Dad didn't realize he'd skipped the ICU completely but seemed pleased with himself. His blood pressure was starting to creep back up so the doctor cleared him to resume his blood pressure medicine but through his IV vs. the normal pills. He is already "requesting" his Blackberry and laptop so we'll see how that goes tomorrow. I think he feels like he can settle in a bit now that he's in "his" room. Mom and I plan to take turns tomorrow trying to get him to walk the hall and do his breathing treatments/exercises intended to prevent pneumonia, which he's had a couple times a long time ago. I forgot to mention that he didn't even need a blood transfusion during his surgery yesterday.

I think that's all for now...back to watching Game 5 of the Mavs/Spurs b-ball game. GO MAVS!!!

Tuesday

We thought we might have to swim to the hospital with all the rain that is coming down in parts of Houston but we didn't have any problems. Dad spent the night in the overnight recovery room and that's where he was this AM when Mom, Jonathan and I arrived around 9am. He's doing well - he was sitting in his bedside chair for at least an hour and then got back in bed. He's also been up moving around the room a bit. Jonathan left for home around 11am followed by Becky and Sylvia who stopped in for a quick visit before they hit the road too.

While Mom and I were having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa, they moved him to his regular hospital room and he's resting very well. Not much else to update you other than he's talking well and his color looks good, maybe even better than last weekend.

We got to see Dad...

Mom got to go back to the recovery area to see Dad about 5pm for 20 minutes or so. Then Jonathan and I went back for about 25 minutes. He's pretty alert and talking quite a bit. While we were there, one of the surgeons on his team, Dr. Kerry Smith, was checking him out. He showed us Dad's incision just off-center to the left on his belly. It's shaped like a long and skinny letter "I." I asked Dr. Smith how often they do this kind of surgery and he said 2-3 times per week and that Dr. Pisters was one of the very best in the country at this procedure.

He's got quite a few tubes - feeding tube, gastric tube, breathing tube, IV's, etc. - but that was in the pre-op information. He held my hand while he talked and wanted to make sure all of you had been updated on his status. And you wonder where I get my bossiness from?!? He was yakking about making lasagna, going fishing, etc. I switched out with Jonathan and left him to hold his hand so Mom could go back and visit again since he was more alert.

So I thought I would post another time this evening since I was able to see him with my own eyes! Thank you for putting up with my chatter. Keeping you all in the loop has been very therapeutic for me too! We are very blessed to have such a wonderful support system of family and friends cheering Dad and us on as we go through this. I know I've said it before, but THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

ALL DONE!!!

We were waiting to speak to the surgical nurse at our 2:00 pm-ish update but were able to speak to Dad's surgeon, Dr. Pisters, instead. Dad handled the surgery with flying colors! Dr. Pisters and his team were very pleased with the results of his chemo/radiation from earlier this year and the tumor had been greatly reduced in size. He did so well that he may not have to be in ICU the normal 2-3 days. They are going to try to keep him in the overnight recovery room and move him to ICU only if they need to. They still expect he'll be in the hospital about 10 days or so.

Thanks for all your positive thoughts and prayers - they definitely paid off!!!