The Recovery

I just relized i did not update my blog on how things went with Jeff...

Well I would first like to thank everyone for keeping us in your thought and prayers.

Now about the surgery… We were called on Thursday night to inform us that Jeff’s surgery was postponed until 12:30 PM. So we arrived at the hospital around 10:00 AM to check in and start our day at Tampa General Hospital (which is the biggest hospital ever!). We sat in the waiting area for about 1 hour and then Jeff was called back to get prepped for his operation. Jeff was not really that nerves until he was getting prepped and had to breathe through a machine to num his throat. That is when he started getting the butterflies in his stomach.

The doctor had told me that they were going to inform us halfway through the surgery on how he was doing and that it should only take about an hour. Well the hour had past and no one had come to me to let me know how things were going or letting me know that they were finishing up. Then 1 hour quickly went to 2 hours and still no word from anybody. At this point I am nerves, and wondering if my hubby was going to be ok. Finally after bugging the nurses station every ten minutes they called Jeff’s’ OR room for an update… and they inform us that there was a problems but he is ok and will be out in 30 minutes. Another 45 minutes pass by and we finally see the doctor. He lets us know that Jeff is doing fine and that he is going to the recovery room, he then tells us why the surgery went longer than planned. When Jeff had his last surgery in the neck to remove the cancer it had made his tissue thicker than they had planned, so it took them longer to get to his right vocal cord.

I was finally able to take Jeff home around 6:50 PM (very long day!). He slept the entire time in the car ride home and was very out of it. When we were home Jeff was able to eat some mash potatoes and then past out. His neck was in pain and he was not aloud to talk for 48 hours, he had to write everything down or sign it to me.

Saturday and Sunday, he laid down most of the day, and only came out of bed when we had some visitors. We have some great friends that are good cooks (Mandee I love your chili!!!!).
His voice does not sound that different right now because his throat is still swollen and his vocal cord needs to heal. This will take about a week until we start hearing a difference. Thank you again for keeping us in your prayers!