There and back again, a surgery tale

In case my cute husband's post confused some people - surgery in fact went well.

We got to the hospital, prepped and waited for the doc.

The bed was way too short for the tall guy. Can you see his feet sticking like 6 inches off the bottom? His surgeon made us feel so comfortable right from the beginning - of course JD knew him from working with him with clients before and knew he was great, but for me it was hugely comforting to hear that JD's Independent Medical Exam (IME) MD fellow-shipped the surgeon and they had mutually great respect and good things to say about each other.

The surgery was planned for about 2 hours. It took almost 3. I worried. The MD came out and told me JD's back was a mess but it turned out great- I think JD mentioned this in his post. I was so relieved to hear it looked ok and he was alive that I just forgot to ask for details like I'd planned.

I expected 4 hours until he could come home, so I left to put Korrali down for a nap. An hours after I left the hospital they called me and told me he would be ready to come home in 20 minutes! Talk about your bounce-back-er (THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND GOOD THOUGHTS!!). I dashed back to the hospital, where we found him looking a little white, very sleepy, and weak but otherwise completely mentally there and relatively painless, and nausea-less (thank you to his AMAZING anesthesiologist!) After a little while, we found out it would be a while actually before he could come home. He made a work call - I think he blew the socks off the guy he called from his hospital bed.. the conversation went something like:

"Hi I'm sorry I missed your call, I was having back surgery.. but -"

"WHAT?! WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME?"

"Because your question was important to me - "

"Hey, don't even worry about it, just get better and then we can figure it out"

Socks = blown off.

Anyway.. I dashed back home to relieve the babysitter. Later that night - ok maybe an hour after I actually got home - JD called me to come get him. I dropped Korrali again at the babysitter and hurried to the hospital. We drove him home, helped him to bed, made arrangements so he could get the things he needed within reach and thus began his recovery.

Within a day he could dress himself and get in and out of bed and do his own hygiene care without help. Within 3 days he could walk without support and sit up in a chair. Within a week he was driving himself and working from bed, shopping for groceries for short periods of time. We didn't explain much to Korrali - except that Daddy was at the Doctor and had an ouchie on his back and that he was resting. But she picked up on it ,and ran off to snuggle him as often as she could.

Aren't they cute together? Anyway, he is doing fabulously. We can't thank you enough for all of your prayers and thoughts - they truly made a huge difference I am sure.