Thursday: Day 1 Post Surgery

Today was a busy day.  Ed had a new nurse--Pat.  She was older but very nice and attentive.  Ed got a sponge bath and Pat was really nice giving him a back rub.  They also got him to sit up and move to sit in a chair.  Now anyone who has had major surgery can tell you, this was a major feat!  He stayed in the chair for about an hour.  Concerns for today included the fact that his heart rate was still high (blood pressure was good though) and that he was producing little urine.  They gave him about 1 liter per hour for about 6 hours to try to increase his fluid.  Temperature was still good though and no signs of infection.

A wound ostomy nurse also came by to talk with us and gave us some brochures/information to read about his colostomy.

They also had a sonogram taken of Ed's heart.  The woman who did it was very good about explaining to us what she was doing and what we were seeing on the sonogram.  Very interesting.

In addition to seeing Dr. Levrault; Dr. Marvelli and Dr. Lawlor both stopped by.  I am quite impressed that Ed's surgeon and anethesologist both stop in to check on him and see how he is doing.  Such GREAT doctors!

Ed didn't sleep much at all during the day and he didn't sleep well Wednesday night either so he was getting quite tired by the evening.  When Dan and I went to leave around 9 PM, we discovered that his legs had become quite swollen.  His evening nurse, Cathy, said this was normal.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Cards and pictures from Lexi.