A Hospital Story...Day One

This is Day One of Jimmy's recovery from surgery.

Yesterday was a long one. We arrived at 11 at Huntsville Hospital, they questioned and started the I.V. and got him to sign papers. They also put this hospital gown on that is called "Bair Paws" and it has this tube that hooks into it where he can adjust the temperature and either cool or warm air blows into the gown and keeps him comfortable. He and I were alone in the room and we had lots of laughs, believe it or not! He's so goofy! After a visit from the associate pastor, they wheeled him off to the operating room and I headed out to the waiting room where Mother and Seth had been waiting already for two hours.

Patience is not a virtue that I possess. I did all right I guess considering the length of time we had to sit there. Of course we snacked (I'm a stress-eater) and watched the television and talked. Layke came on over after he got out of school.

Layke's first day of teaching went well. He has sixth graders, but I think he's going to be able to handle them just fine! We laughed about some things that he said and did yesterday. He's got the bluff on them already....LOL.

The hospital is just fantastic about keeping the family informed during surgery, calling from the OR to the waiting room with status updates. They called every hour. He went to recovery around 6:30 and the surgeon came and talked to us. It was a rough one with several complications and the doctor said he was exhausted. He was so exhausted, in fact, that when he left from talking with us he turned the wrong direction to leave and had to turn around! Jimmy got into a room around 8:30.

Jimmy's brother and sister-in-law came over and brought his dad, so he had quite a welcoming committee when he arrived at his room. I stayed the night and slept pretty well on a fold out chair.

Today the doctor has already been by and told Jimmy that he will be walking around some today. I don't know when; Jimmy is still sound asleep and I'm getting sleepier by the minute!

I'll update this afternoon and report on how well he did getting up and about.

ETA: Jimmy has made two laps around the nurse's desk today, which took a lot out of him, but he did it! Two separate occasions, but on the last one he had to sit and rest for a minute. He hasn't felt well this afternoon and has slept a good bit. He had some pretty bad pain for the first time, but as of right now he is easy. Several people have called asking about him and all of my online friends have emailed, texted and called. You'll never know how much that means to us!