The next day.

Jeff here again.

Overall things have gone well.

The surgery took about two hours. Once complete, Dr. B found me in the waiting room and quickly told me there were no issues and no complications. Typical Dr. B, I could easily measure the time talking to me in seconds. About 10 minutes later, one of the surgery center staff tried to set up a consultation room for me. I told him he missed the boat, and Dr. B already found me.

About an hour later, they told me Jess was getting out of recovery and being sent to her room. After gathering my backpack, my laptop and 2 bouquets of flowers and navigating the maze of corridors and elevators, I finally got to her room.

(Note to hospitals: if you have patient rooms in different buildings and different elevators that aren't connected, maybe you should label that as such on the main lobby. Main lobby that is on the second floor, mind you. Grrr.)

So far Jess has been in some pain, but nothing that can't be managed. Morphine drips and morphine shots and pills galore.

Jess was able to start taking 1 oz of water per hour since 6 am today. She is now up to 2 oz of water per hour as well as 1 oz of protein drink. She seems to like the taste of the Adkins’s Vanilla flavor. That's good, because that will be easy to find in the store.

During the surgery they left a drainage tube in. About 6 inches of the drainage tube was inside her, secured with a suture and some staples. That filled up a few times yesterday and overnight. This morning it was fairly clear so they took it out around Noon. That went quickly, but it sure did seem painful. I don't see how yanking 6 inches of tubing from your abdomen wouldn't be. The staples will be taken out during her follow up visit next week.

Dr. B is adamant about having his patients walk after their surgery, including that day. I think that's great. Apparently there is lots of evidence to show that walking that soon after surgery will lessen the chance of blood clots and hasten recovery time. Yesterday, Jess only had the strength to walk to the bathroom and a little bit outside her door. However, so far today, Jess has taken a total of 6 separate laps around this wing of the hospital. I'm very proud of her. I'm sure we'll probably take 1 or 2 more before the day is over.

There have been lots of visitors and gifts and phone calls today. As well as all the nice blog and facebook comments. Thank you all so much for showing how much you care. The 20 heart-shaped mylar balloons may be a little overkill, but Jess and I know how crazy C is.

It looks like Jess should get discharged tomorrow. We'll find out when Dr. B visits tomorrow, but so far there seems like no reason she won't be.