I thought I would update the BLOG for Allen since he is definitely out of it, but doing great!
I will back up a bit though - to Sunday (so this may be kind of a monster post)
We left for Indy on Sunday. Friends were flying BACK from Las Vegas and met us in the terminal in passing which was very cool. The flight was painless except for the landing... we were about 6 feet from the ground when the plane took a sharp turn back into the air. After a few minutes (and lots of people chatting) the pilot gets on the intercom and says "we are going to circle the airport again because there was another plane still on our runway... welcome to Indianapolis". We headed to my Grandma and Grandpa's house and the planning began (Grandma is a planner like me - but I think it gets worse as you get older - the little 82 year old scurries around making sure everyone is comfortable) By the end of the night Russ was as comfortable as could be with comfort food (chicken noodles), tea and plenty of card playing (Euchre is the game in my family and we kept Grandpa up way past his bedtime playing - a good time was had by all)
Monday I bolted out of bed at 5am starting the list in my head of all the things I wanted to make sure we asked the doctor (I had been told that he will give you all the information you request, but to have your questions ready) We went for a donut run (a tradition when staying with Grandma and Grandpa) - Grandma made eggs for Allen - since donuts aren't on his list. We went on the adventure of finding the hospital. After getting the contrast Allen and Russ went to Whole Foods to get some fruit and nuts and peanut butter and bread (which has been awesome to have around the hospital). They returned JUST in time to get the CT Scan and we set off to find Dr. Foster's office.
Dr. Foster came in with a surgical cap on (I have yet to see him without one), sat down on the chair and started talking about the surgery... as Russ likes to say it he said "We are going to kick ass, this is how I am going to kick ass, this is how you are going to kick ass and with all that it will be a kick ass time" (alright - that is not the words he used - but close) After that meeting we all felt SO high. We agreed it was the best we had felt about Allen and his prognosis since he was diagnosed. Dr. Kesler was in the middle of a case and requested we return later to speak with him, so we went to eat at Jenny's friend's restaurant right here on Campus - Creation Cafe. We spoke with Dr. Kesler and found out there was a third tumor which would require a chest tube and a thoracotomy to remove... which adds 2+ days to the hospital stay. The personalities of the 2 docs could not be more different. Foster was dynamic and straightforward. Kesler was ready to get out of there and go to the next case too.
We went back to Grandma's house with one more person (Russ picked Tree up from the airport while we were eating) A few family members came by and we played more cards and talked.
Russ, Tree, Allen and I all decided to sleep in Tree and Russ' hotel room that night so that we were close to the hospital (which is a good thing because my alarm didn't go off and we were 20 minutes late when we woke up but only 25 minutes late by the time we got there) The docs and nurses got everything done and took Allen back by 7:20 and we were off to the waiting room.
Since we had been in such a rush to leave the room Tree and Russ went back to get their computers - but Tree came back with fewer hairs on his head! (Russ has the pictures - maybe I can bargin with him to send some this way!)
We had a nurse coming by every 90 mins with a report on what was going on and a beeper for when the doctor was coming down to talk to us so we were updated throughout. I am surprised that the time actually went pretty quickly. (I blame it on the expectation that I would be waiting for at least 8 hours)
Dr Foster took about 3 hours and helped Kesler with the first part of his surgery. Kesler took a quick hour to do the thoracotomy and clean out the third tumor. (a 4-6 hour estimate took 5 hours - not bad)
The first part of the waiting was over... we thought it wouldn't be that long BUT there was a little bit of a bed shuffle. We went up to the floor they directed us to and waited for him there for about 2 hours (the nurses said not to worry about this - and sometimes it happens... but we finally asked and he was still in recovery) ... they sent us back down and said that we could have 2 people go see him for 5 mins in recovery and it was a one time thing. Tree and I went to see him. He was itching like crazy and it was hard to hear. My emotion came in waves and after seeing him then having to leave him - that was the biggest wave. A little later we got a room and finally were able to settle in.
The nurse was great and got me a chair that allowed me to lay flat to sleep in there and was as quiet as possible throughout the night.
(ok, I lied - a day or two update at a time.... more to follow)
Russ took most of the pictures - I will request he send it this way - we have a picture of the stomach incision (we haven't seen the other one under the bandage) - but pictures of him will be posted soon and hopefully he will update when we get closer.
- by the way - a little preview - he is doing AWESOME and eating solid foods now AND walking around quite a bit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment