This, Too, Shall Pass

I really honestly hate the phrase because it's only stating the obvious, but at this point I'll chant anything to myself to keep it going. Wil was wheeled into the OR yesterday soon after 7 a.m. At noon his surgeon came out and said that the scar tissues from the previous surgery were tremendous and he'd spent the last 4+ hour just trying to free up the nerves that were pressed down by the scar tissues. So it appeared that not only his new herniation was giving him a hard time and causing pain, those scar tissues from last year's surgery were also adding to the discomfort. He told me that he needed 2 more hours for the mechanical part of the surgery, although it wasn't until 4:30 p.m. when I actually saw him stepping out of the OR looking completely drained. There were some hardware issues they had to deal with, which added more time to an already complicated procedure, but all and all the surgery was declared a success as far as his being to accomplish the goals they had set out. We notified the new anesthetist ahead of time of Wil's violent reaction to coming out of anesthesia last year, and they were able to prevent the puke fest repeat. Chase and I left the hospital around 7 p.m. when Wil was moved into a shared room and already getting knocked out by a cocktail of very good drugs. I didn't really realized that we were running on adrenaline fume until this morning after we got to the hospital. Another long day there just seemed impossible, and even the usually chipper Chase was not having any of it. I knew to expect some swelling to Wil's face, because he called to warn me about it practically all night. I kind of took most of his crazy phone calls as drug-induced, and therefore not to be taken seriously, so actually seeing it was rather jarring. Apparently, he had to wear some kind of goggles during the surgery even though he was laying face down the whole time, and the pressure + drugs + unknown allergy made his face look a touch like an elephant man's mug. He also developed a few new allergies to one of the pain medications and the surgical tape adhesive, so he was all itchy and covered in small clear blisters wherever the wire and tape met on his body, which turned out to actually be quite a few spots. The nurses in Landstuhl's 8D are doing a marvelous job staying on top of his pain control and Wil's as comfortable has he can expect to be under this particular circumstance. I'm so tired I'm nodding off typing this, so I'm going to wrap it up here. The bottom line is he's doing well. The boys are at the kennel, and Chase is going to spend 4 hours tomorrow afternoon at the CDC while Wil and I tackle an important physical therapy session. We are exhausted but hopeful. Will update again as soon as I can.