Surgery tomorrow!

Another turn of events!  After spending Sunday afternoon in the ER (see earlier post), Les felt pretty good Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday he had a little more trouble breathing deeply and Wednesday night didn't sleep much because of the breathing issue.  This morning was about the same.  I HAD to run some errands for work this afternoon, and Les sent me off.  I had just talked to neighbor nurse Kay so I told Les that she was home if he needed her.  Well, he needed her.  He texted her to come over; she did; she talked to the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor and he listened to Les' chest through the phone and wanted Les to go to the ER.  (Of course he needed to change his clothes first!!)  Kay called me to meet them at the ER.  I got there first so I checked him in.  Again, when they know the patient has ALS, the patient gets extra TLC.  That silver lining again.

LONG story short, Les is having tracheostomy surgery tomorrow morning.  For awhile we thought we were headed to the UW for surgery, but the UW doctors talked to the local ENT doctors and they decided to do a simple trach surgery instead of more complicated options and the local ENT doctors are well equipped for this surgery.  Les has researched this surgery so was very comfortable saying yes.  Around 8:00 they shipped him off to ICU for the night.  Since he has had two breathing emergencies in the past week, they want him in ICU to be watched closely through the night.  A relief for me!

SO, please pray that we can both sleep tonight.  Pray for a successful surgery.  Pray that Les will settle down medically so we can FOCUS ON THE WEDDING.  Pray for our kids - this is hard on them!  Thank you!  I've said it before and I will say it again - we feel your prayers.

Thank you to neighbor nurse Kay for her help today.  She is a blessing.  Thank you to Hannah and her mom Jan for bringing me dinner.  Thank you to Ben for the coffee, the visit (we all had a fun visit with the Dutch nurse!), and the prayer.  We are grateful.

Speaking Dutch with the nurse!