Very Quirky Studio: Pneumonia Part V

I have to apologize for taking so long to post this. I've discovered that although I know that everything turns out all right in the end...I really don't enjoy remembering the day of John's surgery. To start my day off I woke up at 6:30 a.m. when Charlene knocked on my door. I had planned on being up and ready to go by then. Since I was late and had to be at the hospital by 7 a.m., I got dressed, brushed my teeth, washed my face, thanked Charlene and RAN out the door. Really you can't be late for your husband's surgery. John was ready to go, I wasn't. I didn't act all panicky for him but you know those butterflies well I had more than my fair share. We made it to pre-op and had a great nurse...I do enjoy when they put the x marks the spot just in case the surgeon can't tell his left from his right. I met John's surgeon, he was informative, seemed excited by John's case and he made me laugh. John received his first drug cocktail and was feeling pretty good. He doesn't remember any of the rest of pre-op, which is good. He would have been amused when I went up to his surgeon, asked for a minute and said, "I know you do this all the time but that man is the entire world to three little girls. Please take care of him." The surgeon looked pretty surprised but reassured me he would. I met John's surgical nurses and they were quite alert...good for my husband and a little sassy...good for me to relate to. They told me that they enjoyed working with Dr. Rochwal, he is a great surgeon but they'd keep an eye on him just in case. They wheeled John out and that's when I started to cry. Just thinking about how worried I was makes me tear up all over again.
The staff at Toledo Hospital made sure to not only direct me but escorted me the teary eyed wife to the waiting room. When I arrived really it was such a relief to find Linda, my kids adopted grandma, there waiting for me. I hadn't called her the night before but news travels fast. Linda who lost her husband to cancer recently was such a surprise and a comfort for me. I was then sent upstairs to the waiting room for Heart Surgeries...it was closest to the operating rooms and we waited. As time passed my waiting committee grew...Uncle Jim, my sister Laura and niece Addie-the best distraction in the world, my mom-whose classes were luckily cancelled for the day, John's mom Ann, and his sister Leanne. We were quite the group! My sister brought Twilight for me to read again, you know another distraction. I couldn't sit still and could have definitely used something to take my worries out on. While not sitting still I discovered that there were besides my group three other groups waiting...really a wife, a husband, and a family...the ENTIRE family group was reading Twilight for the first time, we had a good laugh when we realized that we were all reading the same book.
It seemed like no time had passed when the surgeon had us called to family meeting room. The attendant looked like something had gone drastically wrong. I thought I might be sick...you know my heart started racing and I didn't really want to wait in a small room to hear bad news. I took my mom and my sister with me...we were all a little nervous. Dr. Rochwal came in looking very intense...my mom grabbed my hand and I was ready to hear the worst. Then he said, "The surgery went really well. Actually it went much better than expected." I vaguely remember the rest of the surgical details, but I was still a little stunned.
We were escorted to another elevator to go to the waiting room for the Surgical ICU. We waited and then they let us in two at a time, but I think rules are made to be broken and asked to take both mom's and one sister. Surgical ICU is in the new building and the whole floor is beautiful. I was prepared for John to be on a ventilator but he looked pitiful(sorry honey) when I first saw him. But I went up to the bed took his hand and he gave me a good squeeze. He didn't look like he was even conscious. That was when I knew it was going to be okay. He was already awake! I was warned that it would take a while so not to expect any response yet. His nurse Peter was hilarious. He did a great job helping John get off the Respirator. Although that is something I'd prefer to not have to watch John go through again. He also had two chest drainage tubes to keep the fluid from collecting in his lungs again. Friends and family stopped by and I have to say a thank you for the Dr. Pepper to Russ and Leanne and a special thank you to Aaron and Jean Buck for the hilarious birthday/get well card. No it definitely wasn't John's birthday.
The rest of the week progressed well. He had his drainage tubes removed and then was up and about. The hardest part of John's recovery has been getting his lung capacity back. When he left the hospital he only had 33% lung capacity=the same as a 70 year old smoker with COPD. There was some concern that his diaphragm was paralyzed, thankfully it wasn't. John was determined to get out of there. You could tell that he was finally getting better. Daily walks, on oxygen at first, helped him build up his stamina.
I brought him home on November 23rd! A special thanks to the Amsberry's for keeping my girls so late on a Saturday night. He was exhausted and it had taken a while, but at the two week checkup we were told that John was Pneumonia free. Really John will do anything for time off!
I can't thank my friends and family who have taken care of me and my girls over John's entire hospital stay.....I am truly blessed to be surrounded by people who love us.

For those of you with medical training you might enjoy looking at these images.