Better Days Ahead

At hour 10 of her surgery they called from the OR and said that everything had gone well and they were beginning to close her up. I'm just waiting now for the doctor to come out and give me more details so please forgive me if I stop typing and talk to him. I promise I'll come back just as quick as I can. A few observations from my day:

1) They are pretty good at giving updates early on, but once the lunch hour hits I think they started thinking about their own tongues more then Hope's. Anyway, they did come out about 2 PM with an update to say things were still going well but then just me sweating here and listening to Sportscenter for the 11th time since I've arrived. Anyone want to know the high scorer of the WNBA game between Indiana and Utah, anyone???

2) The Starbucks lounge in the hospital I'm sure is great if you're a coffee drinker (I'm not), but if you want edible food your best bet are the sugar packs by the tea and juice machine.

3) No matter how hard I try, no one in the waiting room wants to play Twister. Want a bunch of lumps, they just stared at me in horror which reminded me of the looks I received asking girls out before I was able to lure Hope into my trap --- David Koresh like. I know you've all been wondering for years what she's been doing with me so the secret is finally out.

4) An alarm went off around 5 PM along with flashing lights across the hospital. Everyone just looked around wondering what to do. Then all of a sudden the candy striper jumps up and leaves the room. I started to worry at that point but decided I wasn' t leaving without Hope. In what seemed like and entire Oprah episode about her friend Gayle or secrets to providing your puppy a pedicure but was probably only about 2 minutes, they announced that Flabotomy on the first floor had something wrong.

5) No matter how many times you make or take a phone call in this hospital, you are guaranteed at minimum of two drops per conversation. It's amazing, you have to just guess where the reception will move like a splotlight you have no control over. It reminded me of the scene in Flash Gordon when Flash had to stick his hand into the unknown blob with holes in it in hopes of not being poisoned by a biting monster that I think is the ultimate reason I'm afraid of snakes.

I just got back from my doc talk. He said everything went well, but she's really, really, really, really swollen. He said he was surprised how much and that I will be when I can see her. He said it's a result of all the chemo and radiation she's been through. I asked him if it was Rocky 1 swollen after the Apollo fight and he said she's prettier. That made me feel better, although since no one is reading this I do have a strange Rocky fetish (except Rocky V which I still to this day refuse to allow to be part of the series) that I cannot explain.

Anyway, he said everything went well but they had to cut a much larger opening in her neck then they had hoped. The tip of her tongue is intact, so she should be able to speak in the near future. Every patient is different so whether it's a week or weeks in unknown. He thinks within a month she'll be speaking well and after 6 months it probably won't get any better if it's not back to normal. They'll keep her in ICU over the next 72 hours minimum, and may bring her back into surgery if necessary because of any complicantions or the tongue is too tight. When you use the leg instead of the arm it's less soft and flexible so that likelihood is higher. She'll be out cold a minimum of 24 more hours, but I can probably see her in the next 2 to 3 hours. She did get a tracheotomy to breath, will be fed through a tube for a 2 to 3 weeks in all likelihood, and will have trouble swallowing and speaking for a while. This is the diet plan she'd been waiting for.

They tested the outside edges of the dissection for cancer and it came back negative. Over the next few days they'll sample the entire specimen and let us know if they found any more. Since I now have a permanent imprint in this seat cushion, I think I'm going to try and move on. Better days are ahead, our boys will get their Mommy back and we will move on from this thing for the last time. Thanks to all the well-wishers and positive thoughts, I'll update again later as I learn more. Do you think they have a big screen TV and allow a six pack in ICU tonight to watch the Celtics take final control of the Finals???