Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Soooo... right after I sent my earlier update, and about the time that they brought Joe his lunch tray, he decided to move his bed and sit up a bit. When he did that, he asked me if his neck looked swollen. I took one look at him and hit the call button...

Joe developed (rather quickly) a fist sized hematoma on his neck. The nurse came in, took one look at it and called the doctor. The on-call doctor came in and looked at it, and decided that he wanted the surgeon to see it. The surgeon came down as soon as he could and decided that Joe needed to have it drained. They were concerned for two reasons- he is still on high doses of blood thinners AND the location of the hematoma being so close to his airway in his neck. The surgeon did indicate that Joe could just wait and see what happened and see if his body would just resolve it, but that this would take 4-6 weeks. He also warned Joe that if it continued to progress he might need to have it dealt with on an emergency basis... where he probably wouldn't be the person to perform the surgery. Joe decided that it was making him very uncomfortable and he would rather just have the drain put in.

So, back to surgery we went. Again, we had great nurses, the anesthesiologist was excellent and the procedure went VERY well. Round trip from pre-op to surgery to recovery to back to his room was about 3 hours, which was excellent.

Joe is back in his room, with LOTS of good drugs. He did try eating some jello and some broth before I left tonight, and that seemed to go very well. Obviously he is EXHAUSTED (who isn't at this point?), but seems to be in better spirits now that his neck is not as swollen. That may be the morphine helping his spirits, but hey, I'll take it! :)

Tomorrow will bring a lot of education for me! I need to learn how to empty and clean the drain (it is possible he will come home with the drain still in, so they want to start teaching me how to care for it just in case), and I need to learn how to give Joe his injections. In an effort to NOT reintroduce heparin into his system at this point, they are going to use another drug that needs to be injected twice a day. Again, this will be a temporary thing, probably just for the first few days after he comes home, but they want to make sure I know how to take care of him properly... so we aren't ready to go home and just waiting for someone to teach me this stuff. Joe will also start physical therapy tomorrow... no excuses! The doctors are concerned about his range of motion and about muscle atrophy and really want to get him working that right arm!

On another note, I know many of you are wondering about my mom. The surgery on her eye went very well today. I talked to her several times throughout the day and she seemed to be in good spirits. She is looking forward to her appointment tomorrow when she will get the patch off of her eye, which will make seeing things much easier. She and my dad had the kids this afternoon/ this evening... which I can't even begin to thank them for, considering all that went on for them today!! Papa even did the bedtime routine at my house before I got home. Thanks Nana and Papa... you guys are amazing!

Again, hoping that tomorrow brings a little bit more normalcy for all of us- especially my kiddos. I know they are close to the end of their ropes, and so I've gotta find a way to balance all of this better so I can be there for them- and Joe. Prayers for God to show me the way to have some balance right now would be greatly appreciated. And as always, prayers for Joe to heal quickly and continue to have non-morphine induced good spirits.

Very tired, so I will close.
Until next time...
C