Familial scarrification and the breakfast hang-over

It's been almost 48 hours post-diaphragm-op and Ford is still hanging in there. His new incision runs along the bottom of his ribs, slightly curling around his back. Once healed he should have what looks like a poorly articulated "L" carved across his torso which is great props to Lakowskis everywhere. Way to represent, Ford.

He came back from the OR with another chest tube to drain excess fluid, but that was removed less than 12 hours after they put it in. He is once again being kept floored with a morphine infusion, so the IV tree/pole has come back. He hasn't been too alert since he came back, he's been sleeping quite a bit. When he does open his eyes it's fleeting and he looks quite distressed. Still, we are told he's doing well. They restarted his feeds yesterday at 5ml/hr but he is already back up to 17ml/hr and should reach 'full feeds' sometime tonight/tomorrow. As Christa noted, he was intubated shortly before going to the OR and he's still on the vent. But they are weaning it pretty quickly and he's already reaching it's lowest settings. As they pull back on the morphine he's starting to take more breaths himself and all that remains is them turning the frequency-of-breath that the machine gives him down. We were told they will extubate him early tomorrow if he continues to do well. But, as past instances have proven unsuccessful I am not holding my breath (pun intended).

Yesterday we got the chance to look at a collection of his x-rays taken over the last few weeks and the pre/post pictures of his diaphragm were pretty startling (this is the first time we've seen the x-rays, usually we are just told what they show). In the pre-op pic, with very little description of the visible anatomy, I could clearly see the extent to which his diaphragm (or rather his stomach, which was being pushed pretty high up into his rib cage) was squishing his left lung and in turn how enlarged and swollen his heart had become. In the post-op pic, which was only taken about 2 hours after he came back, everything had returned to its normal position and his heart already look smaller/less swollen.

Here's hoping the next week goes well.

Christa has us eating pretty well these days, lots of complex carbs, fruit, veggies, legumes, fish, etc. The Ronald Macdonald House has pretty amazing kitchens (and 3 of them to boot) so I am indulging in the pleasures of cooking dinner most nights, I love it! But this morning we partook in the house's complimentary 'Father's Day Breakfast' and I fell off the wagon with heaps of sausage, bacon, fried eggs, pancakes, potatoes, and coffee. I hope all you dad's out there are in a similarly pleasant state of nauseous post-breakfast hang-over.

Happy Father's day/Summer Solstice