Recovery

From Wes her husband and caretaker,

Surgery was longer than we expected but waiting is one of the most difficult things to do when your me. The PA said three hours in surgery was about normal then the doctor said two was about average. Well after four I was beginning to get a little anxious. If we had not had friends and family here to visit with, it would have felt like forever and my stress points would have been much higher. Recovery was more of the same. The doctor came out to tell us that all went as planned and that Dana did good through the surgery. He said she would be in recovery for about 45 minute and then into ICU. About 3.5 hours later we are told she is going to ICU. We get to ICU about 10 minutes later and have to wait another 30 minutes to see her.
Alex and I go to visit first and Dana is talking but feeling pain in the front of her head. She has spikes of pain, smiling makes her neck hurt and she feels sleepy but very coherent. We leave to let your parents come visit. With H1N1 hitting hospitals so hard they are only allowing two people in the room at a time and no kids under 18. Alex and her boyfriend leave and when Ron and Sharon finish their visit, they also leave.
I go back to stay with her, (now 4:30ish). Dana wants some ice chips and lip balm, her throat is sticky and sore. I'm testing friends and family with updates and Dana from a quite state burst into tears..."I just noticed the numbness in my hands and tingling in my fingers is gone!". The nurse comes in to see what is going on and were both in tears telling her about what she just discovered. Man, God is good!
The nurse gives me a form to fill out. This is the same form that Dana filled out at the Neurologist and at admission this morning. Wouldn't it be easier if they just made the form in triplicate and sent it to the departments that needed it?
So I take this form to the nurse at the nurses station to ask a question. As I re-enter Dana's room and she is crying. Odd thing about these ICU rooms at Mercy, you can not hear anything in the room until you pass through the sliding doors. When I get in the room, Dana is hard to understand because she is crying and talking at the same time. It might be a man thing but women are hard to understand when they are crying and talking at the same time. I'm almost positive other women can understand this type of communication but, well I'm a man.
"I can see your phone" I realized at this point that my phone is on the tray that is almost behind her. It hits me that for years she has had diminished peripheral in her right eye and that she has just realized that she can see more than she could just hours before. An overwhelming joy has consumed me in that instant and now we are both crying and rejoicing. For a brief moment I almost think I was beginning to understand her while I was crying and talking but,could this really be happening toa man?
During shift change they ask that all family and visitors leave for an hour so I head out to eat dinner while this happens. David and Sara Sutton meet me and I tell them about what happened. When I return Suzy Biggs is visiting with Dana and there is a lot of kidding and light laughing going on. A good sign that she is doing better. They visit for a little bit and then Suzy heads home. The nurse gives Dana some more pain meds while I start this blog and return some calls and texts. I think I have texted more this day than all the rest of the time I have owned a cell phone.
Just as I get semi comfortable in the recliner chair and start texting, Dana gets hit with a wave of nausea. This could be bad so I get the nurse and she quickly loads a syringe with something to to stop her from erupting. She has really done well up to this point and what ever they shot into her IV did the trick and good thing because I'm beginning to think I'm a sympathetic vomiter. Well she is in and out of sleep. Its funny because when she wakes up she thinks she has been awake all the time and she finishes sentences that she started before she fell asleep. She is doing better know so I think I will close my first attempt a blogging and try to sleep in this very uncomfortable recliner of a chair. More to come as her recovery progresses.

Wes