PostOp Day #2

This morning the docs came in, stopped the PCA, took out one of Scott's drains and wrote discharge orders.  Pretty exciting stuff, except he had a nasty migraine that was making him really nauseated - we think it might have been from the dilaudid in his PCA, but who knows.  Fortunately we got a bunch of anti-nausea/vomiting meds in his IV before they took that out and it held him over until we got home.  Once home he was able to get a really good nap in and his headache finally went away.

We've been lounging around moving back and forth from the couch to the bed.  A few neighbors have come to visit and we've been catching up on all we missed over the last few days. It's SOOO nice to be in the new house!!!!  Scott's parents and younger sister are still here (the rest of the family flew home on Tuesday) and we all have tons of room to do as we please.  Such a big change from our little shotgun house down the street!  The thing I love the most right now is that all the walls of our master bedroom are insulated and since there is carpet in there, it is so quiet when you're in there with the door closed.  Scott can happily nap in peace while we carry on our noisy lives out here in the main living space, cleaning and continuing to move things in from the other house.  Such heaven.  

Wonder of all wonders!

The 3ft love seat actually DOES pull out into a little bit longer of a bed!  Joyous bliss!  I actually finally got a little bit of much needed, most glorious sleep last night and so did Scott.  Waiting for docs to round now.....

PostOp Day #1

Thanks for all the texts, visits, and prayers everyone!  Scott is doing well today!  They got a PCA (pump that has dose-controlled strong pain medicine that he can push a button and give himself every 10 minutes or longer as needed) going for him right away after the surgery yesterday which was very helpful!  His pain has been very well controlled and we are so grateful for that!
Nausea and vomiting has been the issue.  He spewed all over himself, the floor, and just barely missed his recovery nurse after surgery and then it continued for the rest of the evening.  They got lots of anti-nausea/vomiting medicine on board and finally we were able to get everything under control around 11:00 last night.  Sorry for those who were affected by this! (A few queezy guests definitely weren't expecting that) Fortunately it hasn't bothered him today and they were able to advance him to a regular diet for breakfast.  So far he's keeping it down and feeling fine.
He has two drains in still and is very sleepy and rather gorked out..  We are so glad he was able to get some good sleep last night, and I'm glad I stayed here overnight.  Waking up about every hour silencing beeping pumps and alarms and getting stuff for him, compounded with my lack of sleep over the last few days, has turned me into somewhat of a zombie though.  Also, the three-foot love seat available for me made for an interesting sleeping situation.  I'm going home to take a nap here in a little bit and that will hopefully help.
Come visit if you want and are in town.  I doubt we'll be getting discharged today.  And thanks again for all the love and support!  We really, really appreciate it!

DONE

Whew.  Surgery is finally over!  Scott is waking up in the PACU as I type.
He was under anesthesia for a little over 6 hrs.  I was starting to get a little anxious and antsy and am glad it is done.  I am also SO grateful that Scott's family has been here with me and for all the support from our friends.
Dr. Moore said the lymph node we were especially worried about, and did the surgery for, definitely needed to come out - it was about 2cm and rock hard with plenty of yucky looking tissue.  I'm sure pathology reports will confirm we made the right choice.
They also took out the last little border of thyroid tissue that was left in, along with another lymph node that looked like it could develop into something, much higher in his neck. (We will see how the pathology reports come back on those as well). These were the difficult parts as they were very close to important nerves and blood vessels and there was scar tissue and fat that needed to be dissected through with great care.  He said everything went well though and they are happy with the outcome so far!
Scott has two drains in and we will most likely by in the hospital for two nights.  I'll update as we know more.  Please keep us in your prayers that there is no additional bleeding and we can keep pain levels under control.

Sexy socks and SCD's are on....

Sexy hat is too....                 

And we're ready to go!

He just rolled back to the OR, so here we go!  Keep the prayers coming!

Recipe for Mild Chaos

1 post-op Bulldog
9 family members flying into town in one day from various places
1 sad partial shift at work
3 vehicles
1 doctor appointment
3/4 pre-op appointment
1 leaking gas line

Sign up for a shift at work to help out three weeks ago and then realize the you-know-what is hitting the fan all at once.  Try to find someone to cover shift unsuccessfully thanks to midnight showing of Breaking Dawn several hours before shift starts and AWHONN classes.  Contemplate just calling in sick.  Decide to put big girl panties on and work.  Get up extra early to make sure bulldog gets pain meds and time to potty.
Arrive at work and discover the saddest of sad situations that happens on L&D has just occurred.  Thank God the unit is not insane and there is time to adequately deal with everything.  Have husband go to airport in rush hour to pick up 6 family members - three of which are under the age of 3.  Rent minivan.
Get news that gas pipe is leaking at new house and Entergy thinks it will be ok until Monday.  Realize we now have no heat, hot water, or working stove at new house.  Decide to still "kind of move in" this weekend as originally planned.  Make sure husband goes in for pre-op workup.  Find amazing co-worker who agrees to come in and cover last four hours of shift. Rush across town to husband's doctor appointment - find out PET scan shows nothing new and surgery will continue as originally planned.  Rejoice.
Dilemma of two cars at hospital. Drive home alone.  Have husband pick up last three family members and an additional dog at airport and drive home in rush hour.  Finished when 1000 sq ft shotgun house is bursting at the seams and cannot handle any more activity.  Enjoy!

Additional topping: Cover with wine and let cool overnight.  Fly in one more family member tomorrow morning.

New year for me!

Had a fabulous birthday yesterday and am thankful for all the love you all sent my way.  I felt preeetty special.  Scott got off of his 30hr call yesterday morning and brought me donuts and flowers - he's such a rock star :)  Last night we went out for sushi at Kyoto, one of my favorite little restaurants, and then met up with more friends for desert at Sucre!

They finished sanding the floors yesterday and put the first coat of polyurethane on!!!

Today they will be buffing everything out.  Then mixing all the sawdust (they've saved this all from sanding the down the floors) with corn starch and whatever else is in their secret concoction and going around filling in all the cracks between the floor boards, before they add another coat.  Several coats are required and each one brings out an added level of the richness that is in those old boards.

We have a date!

Today we met with Dr. Moore at Ochsner.  We really like him.  Scott knows all the residents with him right now too and likes them, which makes everything a little bit like a party when we go in for these appointments.  We had a very long chat about everything and looked at the scans together and have a plan.  Scott will be having a PET scan on Friday - just to make sure nothing else lights up. (This is the glorified CT scan where they give him the special dye that the cancer loves and measure uptake times to see what shows up).  Next week we have a follow-up appointment for that to review scan results and sign consents and do pre-op stuff.

Monday, November 21 we're on the books for surgery.

The plan is to do a little more involved of a surgery than originally thought.  The first lymph node that we noted definitely needs to come out.  There is another good sized lymph node that doesn't look too bad yet, but the consensus is that we should just take it out now while we're in there to avoid another surgery later.  Also, they will be taking the tiny little border of Thyroid tissue that was left from the first surgery as the idea is that while it's in there - it's just a risk for growing more cancer.
So, please pray for us.  Lucy has surgery scheduled next Wednesday for her knee (an appointment we have agonized over how to handle, and then waited and waited for, and cannot move now), the house will be ready to be moved into by next weekend, and then Scott has surgery the following Monday.  I am fighting to get ahead with school and have an overwhelming amount of work to get done in between all of this.  Also, it would be good if I found time to go to the grocery store sometime and could clean my nasty fridge out.  Details that are low priority for now... Again, *deep breaths* and one day at a time - I kinda wanna puke when I think as far ahead about everything as I just did.

News finally!

We finally heard from our surgeon in St. Louis on Monday evening.  Scott and him discussed the worrisome scans and increasing lab values and figured out a plan of action.  He said that this surgery should be relatively straight forward and not as involved as the last one, so we can do it here!  Also, he was somewhat dumbfounded that there could even be anything there still, as he said he took 87 lymph nodes out of that area of Scott's neck in the first surgery, which means there shouldn't be any left.  I guess this little one's a fighter - it's days are numbered though now.
We have been in contact with a surgeon here at Ochsner in town, and he had a cancellation today and will be fitting us in for an appointment this afternoon.  (Thank you so much Eric for agreeing on such short notice to cover the ICU for Scott for an hour so we can go to this!)  So, hopefully we'll have more news following this, and possibly even a surgery date!

Flooooooors!

They are in progress!!!  The guys came Monday to finish patching all the holes.  We've had to move several H/AC vents due to the fact that we completely re-did the floor plan on the house, and a few other things, so there were quite a few boards that needed to be taken up and replaced.

This is no easy feat. These floors were solidly put together over 100 years ago and had no intentions of coming apart easily.  Also, Scott had to do some good hunting to find other flooring that matched that we could replace whole areas of boards with.  Anyway!  That's all finished now, as of yesterday!

Then, they started on the sanding!  They have the noisiest, dustiest machine with the coarsest sandpaper I've ever seen.  

It's a father-son business run by two good 'ol boys who are quite wild and wonderful - such a hoot to just sit and watch and listen to.  Dad runs the big sander, while son crawls around him and hammers in or pulls out nails that are too high so there's nothing to stub your toe on.

I think they plan on finishing the sanding today and then they do several coats of polyurethane and refinish the floors, making them fresh and beautiful - and quite smelly.  They plan on being done by Friday and then we crank the AC up to take all the moisture out and let the house just sit for quite a few days while the horrible smells that will give you a migraine like no other work their way out and the finish dries and sets up.  We should be in by Thanksgiving! *fingers crossed*

ALSO!  We have running water in our kitchen now after Scott and I spent a few hours on plumbing yesterday.  It's pretty exciting folks!

Our Week So Far:

1. Still no news on surgery
2. A good amount of time spent doing this:  

   3.  Scott spending everyday at the hospital - and still working on the house upon coming home.  

   4. Usually doing this:

Or working on wiring.....                     .

   5. Lucy's surgery for her destroyed knee finally scheduled - let's hope Scott's surgery day doesn't end up at the same time.

   6. Refer to #1 again.  

   7. Trying to stay on top of school and get as many projects out of the way as possible before I'm caring for two little post-op patients here at home in the next few weeks :)

We're trying to be patient - the waiting is the hardest part.  However, we know that everything happens for a purpose and the timing will be perfect in the end.  It's just difficult to sit on this side of it all, not knowing, while everything gets decided upon and worked out.  

Halloween Festivities

One of the things Scott and I love the most about living here in New Orleans is our neighborhood, and how close everyone is - both physically and emotionally.  If you've ever been to visit us - or nearly any old N.O. neighborhood - you know how close the homes are here.  We can hear lots that happens, and everyone is rather nosey about other people's business - which we love.  We feel safe, always have someone to call when we need help, and are never bored.  We not only know almost every person who lives on our block, but it is rare that a day goes by where we don't have discussions with them and enjoy spending time together - sitting on the porch in the evenings drinking wine, sharing meals, borrowing clothes, and running errands together.  The sense of community makes me feel like I'm back in college, living in a dorm again - except we all have our own houses.  We consider some of our neighbors to be some of our closest friends here

On Saturday night our (nearly) next door neighbors and close friends, Skip & Maria, finally got married.  It was a very unique, intimate New Orleans wedding, complete with costumes, and a live band.  We had a blast!

Steve Jobs & the fairy

The weather was perfect and the setting was gorgeous on the front porch of a neighborhood friend's home.

Following the ceremony, there was a lively second line, complete with sparklers, to the reception venue just a few blocks away.  We spent the evening eating, dancing, and playing in the photo booth.  It was all so beautiful and we are so so happy for you, Skip and Maria, and so fortunate to have you in our lives!!!