After Jay's surgery, we had a little while in the recovery area to be sure he wouldn't immediately die before we were admitted to a real room for the night. Spoiler alert: Jay did not die. The room, like the rest of the hospital, was super nice, and at that point Jay was already able to help transfer himself from the OR stretcher to the regular hospital bed. Painful, but able.
We got him in bed where he was 100% naked and freezing but didn't want to put on clothes because it was too hard, and isn't that the way it always goes when you're sick? Family was chomping at the bit (understandably, it was 8pm at this point) to come visit, so after we met the nurse for the night (Hi, Kate!) and got vitals we "released the hounds," as Jay says. About half the family came to visit and Jay was dozing in and out thanks to trauma-related exhausted and Dilauded, so they stayed for a few hours, brought dinner (YES) and then headed out. Jay insisted that I leave too, so about 11 left to go sleep for a few hours, which didn't work AT ALL because I was so worried. I slept for maybe 4 hours, then got ready again and went to the hospital super early on Sunday.
That's the thing about trying to sleep, it isn't nearly as much fun to rest up when your husband is alone in a hospital room in tons of pain. Luckily he texted me through the night (I keep my phone on silent so I only saw it when I was awake) with updates so I knew that he was awake-ish when I got back. The surgeon had said that he'd come back between 6 and 8 the next morning, which was alarming to me but I was determined not to miss it. The doctors at our hospital have varying schedules, with one doctor never even showing up until well after noon most days. So, I was a little wary of Dr. Geier actually being on his game at 6am on a Sunday, but I'll be damned if the man didn't roll into Jay's room all chipper in his fancy scrubs at 6:35am. Not even the tail end of his window like a cable guy (offensive or flattering to call a surgeon better than the cable guy? You decide). He talked to Jay about his pain (I'M DYING FIX ME) and said that the pain was to be expected but that as soon as Jay felt it was manageable without IV meds he could go home.
after the break are graphic leg pictures. now you know.
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