Tuesday ~ Day 1 Of Recovery and All's Well

So, day one of recovery went smoothly.  The first night they were trying to find the optimal level of epidural and for a while he had a lot of pain.  As they adjusted the epidural levels they were able to finally control it very well and today there is some pain but it’s very manageable.  He keeps pushing a little button to get a little extra epidural if he feels the need for it.

He is sleeping a lot, as much as is possible with all the medical team coming in to work on him so often, although he actually sleeps through some of the procedures.  Every time he wakes up he’s more alert and every few hours I can see he’s stronger than before.  He has NUMEROUS tubes ~ some taking things out and some putting things in :-).  It seems that several times an hour someone is coming in to work on or with him ~ nurses, doctors, pain management team, portable xray techs, lab technicians, lifting team (he sat up twice today!) physical therapists, and more nurses.  I’m sure there were more …oh yes!  They had to get him an extension bed since the regular one was too short :-) and this took a whole team to help him sit up, move to a chair, bring in and set up the new bed, and get him back to bed, without messing up any tubes!  These people really know what they’re doing.  He is receiving truly expert, top notch care.  This room in the surgical wing is set up almost like the ICU, the difference being that the nurses have up to 3 patients instead of  just 1 or 2. 

Joelle and I spent the night here with Steve last night, and will both be here tonight also (Tuesday). There’s a bed/chair thing in the room and Joelle sleeps mostly during the day and stays up with Steve all night while I sleep at night and am up with him during the day.  It’s really comforting and helpful to him to have one of us right by his side. Both Joelle and I are feeling rested and actually enjoying the time with Steve and each other.

Thank you all for your continued email, calls, messages, comments and prayers.  We are resting MUCH easier on this side of the surgery and are leaving the future in God’s hands.

Love you all,

~ Keren