One more mountain. That’s what we were saying when it came to Jason’s second surgery. Leading up to surgery day we were filled with overwhelming emotions. We didn’t know what to expect and everything was just so far out of our hands.
The day of the surgery started early in the morning with my mom coming to watch the kids and Jason and I driving out to Vancouver. He had to wear this interesting bair hugger that actually heated up. It was the craziest thing! I may have purposely tied a proper bow on the side of it too just because I could. Anesthesiology and the doctor all checked in with Jason and he was soon off for his surgery.
Thankfully, his surgery was running on time. While I was waiting I kept hearing from other’s there how their loved one’s surgery was delayed for hours. I went and grabbed some lunch and quickly came back to the hospital because a piece of paper I was given said I must wait in a certain area in a specific time frame so that the doctor could come out and talk to me after the surgery. Well, this never happened.
I waited for several hours to hear from the doctor and he never came. I ended up going on a bit of a scavenger hunt and kept getting sent different places and being told Jason wasn’t there. Meanwhile, Jason was in recovery and had a gut instinct to ask the nurse to call me. I got to talk to him, and he got permission for me to go into recovery to be with him.
Jason ended up being in recovery much longer than anticipated as the medical staff got his pain management sorted. The epidural that was given only worked on one side and too low. So it was not helping within the area that needed pain management. When I was waiting in the room in the photo above, I had been told to stay there because Jason’s room was ready for him and he’d be coming up soon. He didn’t get to his room at the hospital until well after 10:15 pm. Once he was settled into his room, and I had put his stuff away and got his phone charger plugged in. I made the drive back home. My mom and sister were still there keeping an eye on the girls and our house.
Over the next few days, the medical staff was still working on getting Jason’s pain managed. The epidural ended up working “too well” one day and he was frozen too high and low. They did eventually get that sorted but also started weaning him off of the epidural and meds going through that.
There was some concern because whenever he tried to sit, stand or walk he would have an instant headache and pain. It was suspected that he may have an epidural spinal headache from a post dural puncture. With being weaned off the epidural he started to really feel the stitches and internal stuff.
The girls are really missing Daddy and I did take them out there on our skip school day so that they could visit. I had to make sure it was drilled into them to not jump on Daddy because he had “an ouchy”. Showing them a picture of the incision definitely helped them to understand that they had to be careful around him. While leaving the hospital both said “We miss you Daddy” and continued to say this repeatedly on the drive home.
I was very surprised to hear that Jason may be coming home on Thursday. In part, it didn’t surprise me because I overheard a nurse mention to another patient that they have even sent people home who could only go up and down stairs by scooting on their bottom. This made me incredibly nervous. I made sure Jason knew my concerns and that he expressed them to the medical staff so that he could ask my questions.
I drove out with the girls after Evie was done school. So thankful for the HOV lane or it would have taken a long time. Several medical staff popped in to check on Jason and make sure he had everything he needed for coming home. I didn’t say a thing to the girls about Daddy possibly coming home, just in case, it didn’t happen. Evie overheard and immediately started cheering and was so happy to hear that Daddy was coming home that day!
He still has a long way to go to recover. If anything comes up we actually have to trek all the way back out to the hospital in Vancouver. So please keep that in your thoughts and prayers that his recovery continues smoothly. We have also had a bit of a run around with paperwork that we need for Jason and my being off work and EI. It’s been incredibly frustrating, at one point we were even told that we needed to make an appointment… well the next appointment wasn’t until the end of July. Not happening! I ended up being able to leave the paperwork at the doctor’s office but we still haven’t heard back about it being signed off on and we’re getting a bit frustrated.
The good thing though… Jason’s home! We now wait a couple weeks to get lab results from the biopsies of the lymph nodes.
