Before the crack of dawn...4:30 a.m...we headed to the hospital for Jimmy's surgery. We were excited and apprehensive at the same time for the surgery to begin. His surgery was supposed to start at 7:30 but didn't start until 8:30...no surprise there. I was at the hospital with Jimmy's parents and we somehow managed to bide our time while surgery was going on. We had breakfast and lunch while waiting. A nurse did come out and give us an update twice to let us know that things were progressing well. The surgery took about 3 hours and we waited for another 2 hours while he was in recovery before we could see him. It was a LONG wait.
Once he got to his room and settled we finally got to see him. He was completely unrecognizable. His face was so swollen from being face down for hours that he really did not look like himself at all. I took a picture and showed him and he couldn't believe it either. (He didn't want me to post it.) At the beginning of the surgery, while they were putting in his breathing tube, he bit the inside of his lip really hard leaving a gash and lots of swelling there too. The doctor came in a little later and told us the that the surgery went well. She said the tumor had been sent to pathology and the results for margins would be available in about a week. She was concerned about the tumor being attached to the sciatic nerve and said she did have to snip a couple of branches of the nerve to get the tumor completely off of it. He did have feeling in his foot right after surgery, which is really good. She also told us that she could not get any margins in that area and that if there was a possibility that the tumor returned, it would most likely be in that area. We are choosing to not think about that right now.
Jimmy stayed in the hospital for 2 1/2 days with a drain in his leg and compression stockings on. He was in a lot of pain the first night and it took a little while to get it under control. He was able to get up and out of bed the second day to walk down the hall with a walker. He didn't go very far but having him be able to walk was a very good sign that the sciatic nerve was going to be okay. The drain was able to come out the day he left the hospital and that was a relief. If he had had to keep it in, it would have been in until he went to a follow up visit in a about a week. He said it hurt pretty bad when they took it out, since it had been placed about 3 inches inside his leg. He will have to continue to wear the compression stockings to help inhibit blood clots for a few weeks though.
September 9, 2013
Today is the first morning Jimmy is home. He sleep all night long and is very happy about that. Unlike being in the hospital when they wake you up all night to take vitals and such. He took a shower (which he couldn't do in the hospital, so we had to go the sponge bath route), which meant that I had cover it in plastic for the shower and then change the dressing after he got out. I was a little nervous since the wound is still so fresh. I don't know how many stitches there are for sure but here's a picture of his incision. It measures just over 9 inches and there is a small hole at the bottom where the drainage tube was as well. The discoloration of his leg is from the radiation and will stay that way. He will not have any hair growth in this area either.
He is in a lot of pain but thankfully, the tumor is out. Now we just wait for the pathology results to make sure they won't have to do surgery again to get more margins or have him do more radiation. We are so grateful that the surgery went well and that, hopefully, this is the last phase to Jimmy being whole and healthy again.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and support. We have definitely felt the power of prayer and the well wishes we have been receiving for Jimmy's speedy recovery.
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