Surgery Day

I threatened to post a picture of Ken in his hospital gown, but I'll be kind and leave that to your imagination...

We got up at 4 a.m. to be at the Harlingen Medical Center by 6 a.m., way before we usually wake up. Ken drove, commenting wryly that it would be the last time he drove for a while (like a month). Dr. Six came by to talk before surgery and answer last minute questions, of which we had several since this was a new surgery we hadn't discussed in detail before.

The operating room nurse called about 8:30 a.m. to say that the surgery had started around 8 a.m. and was going well. She called a few more times with encouraging words. At 2:30 p.m. Dr. Six emerged to tell me that the surgery had gone very well. Ken had a ruptured disc that hadn't shown up on the imaging, but since it was at the fusion level, it was removed. The bone removed from the vertebrae for the decompression was ground up and mixed with bone bank bone to provide the fusion material. Dr. Six indicated that the fusion area appeared quite solid and should fuse nicely. That will take six months to a year.

At 3:30 p.m. I got the call that Ken was going up to his room on the third floor, and I went up to greet him. He was smiling as they wheeled him into the room. He has a sore throat from the tube used for anesthesis, and of course his incision isn't very comfortable, but on the whole he feels pretty good. He ate a good dinner, and then they got him up for a walk. Later we walked together all the way around the floor. Dr. Six has really emphasized the importance of plenty of walking to encourage proper healing of the back.

Several people called or emailed to let us know that they were sending healing wishes Ken's way. It's really good to have caring family and friends. Ken talked with Jeff and Rebecca and later called his brother, Gordon, who doesn't have email. Gord is 15 years older than Ken; he had fusion surgery three years ago. This stenosis problem apparently runs in the family.

The plan is to go home tomorrow after Dr. Six comes by and checks the incision and removes the drain. I'm hoping that we don't get the mixture of drizzle and freezing temperatures that would make the roads really slippery. It's expected to be in the 20's tonight and tomorrow night.

I had lots of time to wait in the lobby. When I found myself drifting off I decided to go shopping. On the way I heard a strange tone and thought it must be coming from my Droid, which I was using to navigate around Harlinger. The tone repeated at regular intervals, kind of like a smoke detector with run down batteries. I finally realized it was the buzzer I had been given to hold so that the desk staff could contact me. Evidently it didn't like being away from its home range, but was fine once we got back to the hospital.

I found a 99 Cents Only Store, one of my favorites from California, and stocked up on bargains. It's a good thing we aren't traveling for a while, so we'll have time to use the stuff up.