Day 1 Post Op Update

    I arrived at the hospital about 11:00am this morning.  I found mom a whole lot more lucid than yesterday! She is still pretty doped up on her PCA pump, but in between dozing off she is able to wake up and have a meaningful converstaion.  This is in stark contrast to yesterday, in which she was also doped up but was being comical in her speech rather than meanigful (unknowingly, no doubt).       

     At one point yesterday she went to awkwardly touch dad's face, and when asked "what are you doing" she stated... "I thought there was a fly on your face, I wanted to get it off" - No fly ;)...  I was rubbing her head yesterday and scratching her scalp and she stated, "That feels good, but I'm sad, because Kailey and Sheila don't let me play hair with them..." - we are all unsure what this means ;).  (And if you are reading this later, mom, I had to put it. We have been through a week of worry, and its nice to smile!)       

     

     But back to today, pain control is still a prayer request. The way that her pain pump is set up, she does not recieve a scheduled pain medication and the supplements it with pushes of her pain pump.  She only gets pain medicine when she pushes the button for the pump to give it to her in her IV.  The doses are small and the pump is regulated so that she can't overdose herself. So after she pushes the button for some pain medication, it will not let her push it again for lets say 10 to 15 minutes.  Because of this, it takes a little while to get the pain under control and when she is finally comfortable she goes to sleep.  During her sleep she obviously can't push the button to stay on top of her pain, so she ends up waking up miserable and havjng t start all over again pushing the button multiple times until pain control is achieved, and back to sleep she goes.  It is a circular pattern and she probably just needs some adjustment in meds, however prayers for pain relief are much appreciated.     

     As far as mobility, mom was able to stand up on the side of the bed with physical therapy this morning and walk around to the other side of the bed.  This was a great accomplishment to me, seeing as how this was before 24 hours had even passed since surgery.  While Dad and I went off campus for lunch, occupational therapy also came in and worked with mom. And, just to show off, she walked with them all the way tobthe bathroom, brushed her teeth, back to a chair, sat and stood a couple of times and walked back to bed. We were so excited for this!  I told her at this rate she would be doing triatholons in a couple months!      

     As far as pathology reports and talking with the surgeon about the surgery, those things have not happened yet.  However, her color has brightened up a good bit.  She still has some mild yellowing of the face but her hands, arms, neck, and chest have all returned to a normal pink color!      

     They pulled her NG tube early this morning, which was quick. This would lead me to believe her output was low enough to do so. Hopefully gastroparesis will not be an issue mom faces, as so many with whipples do. Prayers for no gastroparesis and for all the anastomotic places that were created in surgery to heal strongly so that she can get back to eating quickly are also appreciated.    

     Thank everyone for continued prayers and I promis to keep everyone up to date and informed. 

     To God be the Glory! 

 -  Luke