Spinal Rod Fusion is done!

Well surgery went better than expected. He was in surgery for about six hours. Towards the end, he lost a lot of blood (his whole body's supply's worth.) About 50% of that is recycled back and of course he needed a few transfusions as well as platelets. His blood pressure dropped as a result. When we were finally able to see him at 7:30pm, he was swollen, but not as bad as we had imagined and he was awake. Since his blood pressure dropped and he was on medicine to bring it back up, they held off on pain medicine (especially in his epidural.) The next morning, he didn't look like he was in any discomfort, so I told them to hold off on pain meds in order to possibly get him off the blood pressure medicine. It worked and he was off it that day. He was also off the vent and back to room air. The next day he still didn't need pain meds and was fairly relaxed. They talked about sending him home Friday. The surgeon decided not to because he had lost so much blood, so he kept him in the hospital until Saturday.
Saturday afternoon we were discharged. No pain meds!! Unbelievable! I guess the pain he felt before must have been way worse than we thought. The only hiccup in the whole thing is he has urinary retention (very common after surgeries.) I learned and have been catheterizing him at home, but supplies are limited, so tomorrow I'm going to need to make a couple of phone calls. Other than that, things couldn't have gone better.
I truly feel that the Lord had his hand in this all. Tying up all kinds of loose ends. Even Social Security left a message saying that my case had been handled and I didn't owe any back pay. (I wont be completely satisfied until I have the paper in my hand, but I know God has that handled as well.) God has blessed us this week, of that I am certain!!!

Spinal rod fusion surgery

After countless appointments, every test under the sun, many authorizations... at last the day is here, tomorrow is Billy boy's spinal rod fusion surgery! The procedure will take 8-12 hours. Hopefully this will be the last time his back looks like this. I will post updates as I am available, but chances are I will be in the hospital until Thursday or Friday when I switch off with Billy. I know Jesus will be there with him and has this under control, so I am relatively calm. (Tomorrow I might be a little more nervous.) Please keep him in prayer!!!

Preparing for surgery

Today was the 5k for Camp Ronald McDonald for Goodtimes. Thank you to all that helped me reach and surpass my fundraising goal. We are 10 days away from surgery date. In the last couple of weeks, we have gotten authorization from all of Billy Boys doctors, ran every test possible. All that is missing now is the pre-op & anesthesia appointment and we are all set. I've had Billy Boy in "quarantine" the last couple of days since both Monet and Billy came down with colds.

Of course I haven't achived anything further with social security except for headaches. I'm still waiting for the redetermination and waiver. If I don't hear anything by the end of the week, I'm filing for a hearing. I don't get it, I call them every day and they don't so much as return my calls.

As always, I'm relying on God for strength, patience, support and understanding!