Day One after Surgery, 4pm

Hi Friends,
I arrived to visit Anne today at around 2:30pm. Her adjustable bed was installed at home this morning. She's going to need to sleep with an incline now. There's no more flapper (check valve) in her throat, and gravity will be her ally from now on, helping her with the task of swallowing. I don't think she will actually swallow any more, I think the gravity will be the only thing that moves 'stuff' from her mouth to her stomach.

Anne has been sitting in a reclining chair since I got here. She just called the nurse to report that her throat is very sore and the nurse has gone for some numbing spray for that. Anne told her it hurts to swallow and her belly hurts to cough. Anne is dealing with congestion in her throat too. They have told her that light coughing is a very good activity for her, so she tries. She has a breathing mechanism/exercise to do which displays the strengh of her exhale. She is good about doing the exercises.

Anne said that she doesn't want any visitors until she is moved into another room off of this floor. She expects to be moved tomorrow. That's too bad because she has this nice private situation here now, with a nice view of both front doors of Maine Med just three stories down. It's shady out side her window now and I know she likes that. She had the fan blowing all morning when the hot sun was shinning brightly. Now the fan is turned off. It's in the 90's here today, hopefully a one day phenomenon.

Dr. McGillvary was in this afternoon and was happy to see Anne sitting up and looking well. I forgot to mention yesterday that he had told us that he checked Anne's liver during surgery and it looked fine. Today he repeated that Anne will have the drainage tube coming from the nostril for a week or so. At the end of this week they will do some sort of berillium test, to check Annes throat etc. for leaks.

Anne's blood pressure has come up today to where they aren't concerned now. It measured 104 over 70 last time, and they were pleased. The low bp earlier was attributed to her being dehydrated.

Anne has a feeding tube installed. Nurse Carrie just explained that it is a continuous feed going thru, so much per hour, and every four hours there is a flush of water that occurs. Anne said she heard the last flushing of water when it happened. The nurse said the amount of feed going thru is very small, designed to just give a bit of work to Annes's digestive system at this time. It looks like she's getting a coffee milk shake thru there at current, however slowly.

Anne is doing her best to keep from talking too much and to get as much rest as possible for now. She looks real good with color in her face, and she is a good patient, not trying to over do anything.

Looking back, yesterday was sort of a day of elation, with the good news out of the surgery, the relief from the news, and with Anne talking and joking some. Now reality is setting in as we realize she has alot of work and healing to do, with a long way to go. My feeling is that she's doing as well as can be expected. Learning to eat again is going to be a real adventure when that happens.

Day One after Surgery, 8am

Mornin all !!

I was up 21 hours yesterday, starting with the early trip to Maine Med, and ending with the late overtime Celtics playoff game late last night (I admit, I fell asleep in my chair during the 3rd quarter). I slept like a rock until Anne called me at 5:30am 'to talk'. Then she called me again at 6:15 and woke me again 'to talk'. Point being,,, she is doing fantastic and she sounds great, if not just a bit tired. There’s a lot of relief in her voice too. She said the nurses come in and wake her too much, and it's been hard to get a decent block of time for any real rest. Opps, she just called again and is sounding pretty tired at this point.

The one real concern is that her blood pressure is low. They're working to find out why. She is great tho, and I’m so surprised. When I left her last night and asked what she might need she said 'a T-bone'.

She mentions that she'll have the drainage tube in her nostril for one week. Now that's got to be anoying at times. Dr. McGillvary's assiatant surgeon was already in this morning early to check on Anne.

They have changed the morphine pump over to a 'dilotted' (hydromorphone) pump. I knew she didn't care much for the morphine but I know it served a good purpose for a while. The epidural is taking care of her stomach pretty well according to Anne, but it does hurt. I hope she is squeezing in a power nap now.

Hi to everyone and thanks for your continued good wishes, thoughts and prayers.