Thursday, February 17, 2011

Update on Chad

Yesterday was Chad surgery. We arrived at the hospital about 6:15... we thought we were 15 minutes late, but we were actually 15 minutes early. Shortly thereafter we headed up to surgery prep where he got hooked up to all sorts of things... and of course the worse part - getting that dang IV. He doesn't like needles anymore than I do... but at least he doesn't faint! They wheeled him back to the OR around 8:30 and we headed to the wait room to begin our very very long day of... you guessed it waiting. During the surgery the staff called with updates, but nothing all that interesting.

The crappy part was when we knew the surgery was over but we were waiting to see the surgeon. They kept telling us that he would be up in 30 minutes... two hours later, he still wasn't here. So we were up here not wanting to miss the doctor but also wanting to see Chad in recovery. Eventually Chad's grandma and I went down to see him while Chad's mom waited up here for the doctor in case. Chad was very uncomfortable in recovery... he was very nauseous... they gave him some meds to help, but I guess they hadn't kicked in. He didn't look to happy which broke my heart... there's just not much anyone could do for him. The visit was very short and when we got back to the waiting room we hadn't missed the doctor.

When we were finally able to speak to the doctor he was very positive and upbeat about how the surgery went. He said that he believed they got all of the tumor, however were going to do an MRI last night to make sure. It was nice to hear that the surgeon was so upbeat with how everything went... you couldn't really ask for more. They moved Chad into an ICU room and I saw him a couple of more times, but really just wanted to let him sleep... that what I would want to be doing if I were him. I left shortly after that to tend to the dogs at home... I finally got home around 9:30... long long day.

Today when I arrived it was to good news. The MRI they did last night showed they had indeed removed all of the tumor!! Music to my ears. They are hoping to move him to a regular room sometime this afternoon. He's still nauseous but they are trying a different medication. Occupational Therapy visited him this morning and did some motor function and memory tests as well as got him up and into a chair for awhile. The surgeon also came in to visit. He thinks Chad is doing great. Chad is experiencing some cross-eyed-ness... that's really frustrating to him... They are talking about getting him a patch since when he only uses one eye he is fine.

We are hoping that Chad starts to feel more like himself soon. We are hoping the recovery will continue to go as well as last time.

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