After a long day, with many ups and downs, Pam is finally out of a successful surgery. Dr. Kim said it "was a thing of beauty." We are so happy . . . and pooped.
Pam's surgery took approximately two and a half hours. In at 7:30pm, out at 10:00pm. It took Pam two more hours to get out of PACU, so we finally saw her at midnight. She was conscious and alert, but in a lot of pain, and really groggy. They gave her some meds, and nighty night sweet princess.
The doctors ended up closing the hole in her throat with some fancy stitching, stretching and flap maneuvering. Once they got in there, they decided that the cage did not need to come out, and they also opted not to shave it down. Apparently, they didn't think it rubbed on her throat. They also believe that antibiotics may control any infection. Time will tell.
Her short term goal is to get home. The doctors think that won't be until sometime next week. She will not have a feeding tube down her thoat, but now the doctors are talking about a "peg" or "G" tube inserted directly into her stomach or intestines. I'll have to learn more, but I guess the tube allows the insertion of food and liquid directly into the GI area. Pretty trippy. Preliminary indications are she won't be able to eat or even maybe drink for a month, depending upon how fast her thoat heals. I'm sure she'll be real stoked about that . . . for those of you who know Pam, eating is one of her most pleasurable pasttimes.
Today was a roller coaster. Pam woke up with a low grade fever, that spiked up to 101.5. So they did a battery of tests, including chest x-rays, blood and urine. Several more doctors poked and prodded. She was supposed to be prepped for surgery at 11:30am this morning. A couple docs told us because of her fever she would not be having surgery today. So we all chilled out, bummed. We were all pretty dejected, because they were talking about having to reschedule next week. Then at 5:30pm, some guy shows up and says, "I'm here to take you to surgery." Then my wife says, in her thoughtful deadpan, "Shut up." Then she started crying because she was so happy. The rest is history.
So we move forward. She now must stand. She must pee. And she must pass food through a tube. All in order to go home. Our next goal is to get her home with her kids ASAP, in her own bed, with her beloved dog Wilson (and our two cats) . . . holding her husband's hand as she drifts off to sleep. Hopefully we can make it happen soon.
Once again, words can't do justice for all of you who spent countless moments of your precious days praying, thinking and worrying about Pam. I believe your powerful words of encouragement and support have once again tipped the scales in favor of Pam not only surviving, but flourishing. We thank you with all our hearts. I just have to say we love you all.
As Pam closes each entry in her blog . . . God is love. Thank you again, Ken.
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