Successful Surgery

Whew, a long day but a successful day!

Les rested comfortably in ICU last night and most of today.  He had a visit from the Ear/Nose/Throat surgeon Dr. Verneuil this morning; Dr. Verneuil also called me.  Nurse Jen from the UW called - it's so awesome that these doctors are communicating with each other!  As Dr. Verneuil said, he is "working under" Dr. Hillel at the UW and did the surgery according to Dr. Hillel's instructions.  We were so glad to have the surgery here and not at UW!

Waiting with my parents

Surgery was right at 4, right on time!  Leslie and I walked around a bit and were back in ICU at 5 - the nurse told us Les was on his way back.  When we saw him he was awake already.  He said the breathing relief was immediate.  Praise God!  We met with Dr. Verneuil and he was pleased with the surgery.  He had made some small adjustments in the trach placement as per Dr. Hillel's request.  Dr. Hillel has a few other surgery options for down the road - these surgeries would ease Les' swallowing issues and decrease the chances of aspirating.

Les did have some difficulty with some "crap" in the back of his throat so between suctioning through the trach and his throat, he felt better.  The nurses told us they were so impressed with his independence and ability to care for himself i.e. crushing his own pills and inserting through his peg, suctioning himself, feeding himself through the peg.  They also asked if he was working out - he was in such good shape.  We said, well he used to be.......... He finally had a feeding around 9 this evening.  He weighed in at 183 so needs to keep the calories going in.  Not much pain and he was getting very sleepy.  I left around 10 for home. 

Thanks to Ben for the visit this morning; thank you Isaiah and Andrew for mowing our yard.  Thanks to my parents for sitting with us before surgery.  Thanks to Leslie and Hannah for sitting with us.  They are on the list for trach training tomorrow!  Thank you Lori for hanging out and asking questions that I wouldn't think of.  Thank you elder Don for popping in.  Thanks for all your texts, phone calls, messages and prayers.  Sounds like Les will be hanging out in the hospital for several days, so we ask for patience and healing.  He took a couple of "selfie's" of his trach, so figured I could share a picture.