The surgery is done and Beth is now in her room sleeping. They finished around an hour ago. Beth is alert and in good spirits. She is sore but drugged up pretty well. Beth drugged up on any sort of pain killers is some good comedy.
Dr Stallnecker came out and talked with me for a few minutes. He said the surgery went well for the most part. He did say though he had trouble with the right breast. He couldn't get enough blood flow to that area and it was concerning him. He is going to monitor it, but if it doesn't improve he will have to go in and remove it and replace it with an implant.
She will be in the hospital for at least 4 days. If she has to have another surgery her stay could be upwards to a week.
This hospital is unbelievable. Everything is so new and clean. The rooms are nice and big and the nurses are great. Top notch hospital. Torrance Memorial you should be ashamed of yourself.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Beth Surgery Update - 7:00pm EST
Going on hour number 12. No update from the nurse in the last couple of hours. Not worried just anxious. Dr Stallnecker actually tried to talk Beth out of the Tram Flap surgery last week. He was worried about how long the surgery would take and the increased complications that come from such a long surgery. I can't stop thinking about his hesitation during that office visit.
For those interested, we are Community North Hospital up in Fishers. She will be in the hospital for 3-5 days depending on how she recovers. She will be out of commission for at least 2 weeks and total recovery takes about 6-8 weeks. She will have at least one more minor surgery after she has recovered to complete the procedure. Beth is a quick healer. She went river rafting 3 weeks after Lily was born. So we are hoping that she recovers in time to enjoy some of the summer.
I hope she is out of surgery soon...American Idol starts in an hour.
For those interested, we are Community North Hospital up in Fishers. She will be in the hospital for 3-5 days depending on how she recovers. She will be out of commission for at least 2 weeks and total recovery takes about 6-8 weeks. She will have at least one more minor surgery after she has recovered to complete the procedure. Beth is a quick healer. She went river rafting 3 weeks after Lily was born. So we are hoping that she recovers in time to enjoy some of the summer.
I hope she is out of surgery soon...American Idol starts in an hour.
Beth Surgery Update - 2:30pm EST
2:38pm - nurse Wynn came out to tell me that Beth has been upgraded from "she's doing well", to "she doing REALLY well". The updates have been on the half hour every 2 hours. At this point I am convinced that the nurse has an Outlook reminder set to remind her to come out and tell me that Beth is doing well every 2 hours.
By the way, during an 11 hour surgery how and and when are breaks for the doctor taken? Does he just leave for lunch with Beth laying there wide open? He has to take breaks right? I need to know these things.
We are 8 hours into surgery. I have passed the time with a lot of YouTube, a couple episodes of The Office and even caught up on some behind the scenes of Survivor. On CBS.com you can watch exclusive footage of Survivor including Webisodes of "Ponderosa" - footage of where the members of the jury stay after they get voted out. This is must see for all Survivor fans. Check it out.
I haven't spent all of the last 8 hours watching mindless YouTube clips though, I did learn some interesting facts on what exactly this boob doctor is doing to my wife
Beth got the abdominal muscle flap (Tram Flap).
But most of the time I was watching clips like this one
As good as these guys were, I kept finding myself thinking, "How awesome would it be to work for Google??" I mean this had to be a recruiting commercial for Google right? "Hey come work for Google, we take breaks in the middle of the day to watch a couple of dudes beat box".
People wearing shorts and flip flops to work and not to mention the huge cooler of help yourself adult drinks off in the corner. Smart advertising on Google's part.
By the way, during an 11 hour surgery how and and when are breaks for the doctor taken? Does he just leave for lunch with Beth laying there wide open? He has to take breaks right? I need to know these things.
We are 8 hours into surgery. I have passed the time with a lot of YouTube, a couple episodes of The Office and even caught up on some behind the scenes of Survivor. On CBS.com you can watch exclusive footage of Survivor including Webisodes of "Ponderosa" - footage of where the members of the jury stay after they get voted out. This is must see for all Survivor fans. Check it out.
I haven't spent all of the last 8 hours watching mindless YouTube clips though, I did learn some interesting facts on what exactly this boob doctor is doing to my wife
Beth got the abdominal muscle flap (Tram Flap).
But most of the time I was watching clips like this one
As good as these guys were, I kept finding myself thinking, "How awesome would it be to work for Google??" I mean this had to be a recruiting commercial for Google right? "Hey come work for Google, we take breaks in the middle of the day to watch a couple of dudes beat box".
People wearing shorts and flip flops to work and not to mention the huge cooler of help yourself adult drinks off in the corner. Smart advertising on Google's part.
Beth's Surgery update - 11:00am est
11:15am- Hour number four. Only update from the nurse is that "everything is going fine back there". Thanks for that update nurse Wynn...
Glad there is Wifi in the waiting room, but this wireless network doesn't allow Facebook access. Bummer. Another irritating thing is that there are very few electrical outlets round this place. Running on a low battery and will have to sit on the floor by the women's bathroom to recharge the laptop here soon. That should be fun.
I was way more nervous for Beth's 1st surgery than I was for this one. Her 1st one lasted 9 hours, a couple of hours longer than expected. Was a nervous wreck. I thought this one was going to be a relatively easy surgery. Not the case. Everything is different. Everyone seems so much more focused and business like. We are even in a completely different area of the hospital than the 1st one. Not that there was anything wrong with the way the nurses and doctors went about their business with the 1st surgery, it's just that people are taking this one a little more serious. Everyone has their game face on. Even nerdy little Dr. Stallnecker had a different demeanor to him this morning. That should have made me feel more comfortable right? It actually did the opposite. It made me realize that there is some serious stuff going on here. I guess it all makes sense. The 1st one was chop and remove - how much damage could you do?This one takes a little more skill and attention to detail.
Gotta set up camp outside the women's bathroom...
Glad there is Wifi in the waiting room, but this wireless network doesn't allow Facebook access. Bummer. Another irritating thing is that there are very few electrical outlets round this place. Running on a low battery and will have to sit on the floor by the women's bathroom to recharge the laptop here soon. That should be fun.
I was way more nervous for Beth's 1st surgery than I was for this one. Her 1st one lasted 9 hours, a couple of hours longer than expected. Was a nervous wreck. I thought this one was going to be a relatively easy surgery. Not the case. Everything is different. Everyone seems so much more focused and business like. We are even in a completely different area of the hospital than the 1st one. Not that there was anything wrong with the way the nurses and doctors went about their business with the 1st surgery, it's just that people are taking this one a little more serious. Everyone has their game face on. Even nerdy little Dr. Stallnecker had a different demeanor to him this morning. That should have made me feel more comfortable right? It actually did the opposite. It made me realize that there is some serious stuff going on here. I guess it all makes sense. The 1st one was chop and remove - how much damage could you do?This one takes a little more skill and attention to detail.
Gotta set up camp outside the women's bathroom...
Beth's Surgery Update - 5:30am est
Today Beth goes in for reconstruction surgery. It is an 11 hour surgery that starts at 7am this morning. With 11 hours to spare and some Wifi at the hospital I figured I would post some updates throughout the day.
5:30am - we pull into Community North Hospital. They have this really cool free valet service. This is great when you are pulling in at 5:30am. The only downside is when you're leaving - waiting 15 minutes for them to pull your car around while you stare at it parked 50 feet away.
6:30am - Beth and I meet the Boob doctor (Dr Stallnecker) for some last minute surgery details. Part of this pre surgery visit involves him pulling out the sharpie marker and drawing all over Beth's chest and tummy. It looked like he was drawing up a football play.
7:00am - Head back home to get the kids off to school. I am normally not home in the morning to see the kids off to school - Beth gets the pleasure of directing that circus on a daily basis. All I will say is that our kids don't wake up in good moods.
To be continued...
5:30am - we pull into Community North Hospital. They have this really cool free valet service. This is great when you are pulling in at 5:30am. The only downside is when you're leaving - waiting 15 minutes for them to pull your car around while you stare at it parked 50 feet away.
6:30am - Beth and I meet the Boob doctor (Dr Stallnecker) for some last minute surgery details. Part of this pre surgery visit involves him pulling out the sharpie marker and drawing all over Beth's chest and tummy. It looked like he was drawing up a football play.
7:00am - Head back home to get the kids off to school. I am normally not home in the morning to see the kids off to school - Beth gets the pleasure of directing that circus on a daily basis. All I will say is that our kids don't wake up in good moods.
To be continued...
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