James had surgery yesterday on his cervical vertebrae. It has been a long process of lots of MRI's, lots of consults and multiple opinions. Between his specific Psoriatic arthritis, and many complications, there are only 4 surgeons out of 28 in this field in NC who were qualified to address it. That's James! Go big, or go home.
He had a disc Pressing into his spinal cord, presenting early warnings of slowly becoming paraplegic if they didn't do this surgery. Sounds like a no brainer, but it was a big decision for him. They went in through his throat ( shudder!) to the vertebrae where they sliced, diced, and hammered around. He has a fancy metal plate, and two cervical areas they fused. See the lovely 6 inch battle wound he has to show off?
Finding help with 4 kids is complicated enough. Add in the mix a breasted baby and it can be maddening. Usually I would say "Throw her in the sling, I'm good." But with all of the people in the hospital for flu, and those sick but still visiting others in the hospital, CMC Hospitals banned children under 12. No accommodations. So Scarlett and I hung out in the parking deck with snacks and Baby Einstein DVDs for nearly 5 hours, until James's mom switched off for almost 2 more hours.
His mom stayed in the family waiting area, and texted me the updates as the surgery progressed, then met with the Surgeon after for the details. Everything went normally, he went ahead and did a second area that he and James had discussed doing at a later time but it was so deteriorated already. I'm glad his mom could be there too, I could not just sit at home and wait for updates. What if he had a complication? What if he died? I could NOT be at peace an hour away.
After he was moved to recovery, I switched with his mom to keep the baby and went in to wait and see him. I kept mentally preparing myself for how he would look. He was kind enough to show me a video of the same surgery a few days before (he still doesn't understand my imagination is plenty sufficient. I already could visualize what would happen. The video traumatized me.) So I was sure nervous.
He was in so much pain, his BP was very high, his oxygen saturation was very low. Basically,other meds that he takes regularly were blocking the pain meds, despite the fact that he stopped taking them a day earlier than what was even recommended to prepare for the surgery. It didn't help. So he felt the full truck load of his pain. It was horrifying, he looked tortured. The girl with him was incredibly sweet, staying with him and calling every 20 minutes to get a pain management consult after hours for him. So he stayed in recovery 2 hours longer than normal. Between seeing him like that, seeing his incision that I expected to be covered, and the pain meds that I took 30 minutes before now kicking in for my back, I got a rush of nerves and anxiety, I about threw up. I had to sit down and breath, and asked for juice to raise my blood sugar. They didn't need another patient! After a few minutes, and covering his neck up, I was good to go.
The pain meds would work for about 20 minutes before his body blocked them again and she had to give him another dose. But in those brief moments when he was calm and able to relax, the affects from the anesthesia were still obvious. And hilarious!
I was putting vasoline on his dry lips, and he started talking about Braveheart (we just watched it on TV a few nights before.) but he got frustrated, he said he didn't mean that, he meant to tell me about a battle on a ship. Uh...a pirate ship? No clue. And as I'm still rubbing vasoline on his lips, he says "I meant to look for one for you." Look for what? I ask. "A telescope", he says. And promises to find a rental.
Thanks babe.
He is quiet, and hard to hear, but he claims he nearly drove the Tahoe "off the cliff yesterday" (he drove our other car. To church. Not off a cliff.) Apparently he thinks his Aunt Jane lives on said cliff. And again, promises to find a telescope rental for me.
I only wish my battery hadn't died. He was quite confused. And entertaining.
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