So far so good after surgery on Thursday. The surgeon said that once they got her esophagus "loosened up" (apparently it was kind of attached to surrounding structure) her gap was actually only about 2cm. He said even so, with 2cm vs 6-7cm, he "wouldn't focus too much on the numbers". He said it will still probably be around 2 weeks of stretching, though it could be more like 7-10 days. It just depends on how her body handles the stretching process and how responsive her esophagus is. He did say that her esophagus was relatively stretchy, which is good and puts her into more of a "slightly better than average" position.
They have her sedated, paralyzed, and loaded up with pain meds. There were some issues with her breathing tube yesterday so they had to call in the Respiratory Therapist and the floor Dr. and get an x-ray to adjust how deep the tube was going down her trachea. At one point there were around 5 or 6 people in the room with us and it started getting pretty crowded! But they got it sorted out and she was fine.
Today they did the first traction adjustment on her esophagus. They pump her up with morphine and then roll her over on to her side so the surgeon can adjust the tension on the sutures going to the upper and lower sections of her esophagus. They did another x-ray afterward, but I didn't hear what the result was as far as the gap. I'm guessing they show them to the surgeon and then he'll talk to us tomorrow about the result.
All in all, everyone keeps saying that she's doing good, no issues. Just have to wait out the next 6 to 13 days and then we'll be able to see her big blue eyes and big smiles again.
Rose is doing well, but I think city life is starting to get to her. She's used to being able to run out our back door and run around the yard, more or less whenever she wants. Here she spends a lot more time in the apartment, and when we do go out she has to ride in her stroller until we get to a small "park" where she can stretch her legs some. It's far from our "normal"!
Also, we're really appreciative of all the financial support from friends leading up to this because WOW is stuff expensive here! A two-topping pizza, $25. Donuts from a bakery (not Duncan which is on every street corner) are $3-4/each. Hospital cafeteria lunch will run you about the price of a meal at Applebee's. All I can make of it is that apparently everyone that lives in Boston, between the cost of housing and groceries, must be making about $200,000/year.
Guess that's all for now, till next update -
-Joe
Thanks for the update, Joe, and what sounds like good news. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Boston cost of living is even higher than LA. I think the reality of living in such places isn't that everyone makes that much more money, but people can't afford as much (fewer people own homes--or they have to commute, multiple cars, extra fun toys etc.) It makes visiting Sheboygan fun when you can find burgers for only $4... Like what?! :-D
Anyways so glad to hear the gap is smaller than they thought and she's higher than average chances. Love you guys so much!
That's funny. Your reasoning on how people can afford to live places like this totally makes sense. But to me, being a born and raised midwesterner, the idea of not having my own transportation is like "well if you cut off your left foot you'll save money because you'll it need to buy one shoe!"😄 But if I had to live here, I sure as heck wouldn't be driving anywhere, that's for sure. What a madhouse! My poor lazy legs have taken a beating getting me around here the last week.
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