A smile like that after a 6 hour surgery. Inspiring!
For a rather verbose start as guest blogger here “Under a Red Roof”, until Colleen is back at the helm, I will just post some status on Colleen as she is easily my favorite topic. I love her very much and am certainly inspired by her love of life. As you can read from previous posts, Tuesday was a day of surgery for my wife Colleen.
The surgery started out as a laparoscopic procedure that would last about 3 hours or less. As the Dr. was working it became apparent that there was going to be more to do and Colleen had to be opened up. I believe it became a laparotomic procedure with a single horizontal incision, but I can only play doctor so please forgive the terminology. It ended up being quite a long day with a surgery from about 10:00 am to 4:30 pm and then recovery until about 6:00 pm or so. Her doctor said that the reason a transfusion wasn’t necessary in surgery was, in large part, due to the good care Colleen has taken of her blood (which isn’t easy with the heavy monthly blood loss).
I am grateful that my best friend in the world was sleeping through this ordeal! I am also very grateful that the most excellent doctors took their time and patience to really do things correctly and safely.
Today, the day after the surgery, was a good day. Colleen is in a good deal of pain but her vitals are good and her body is healthy. Fluids are passing normally, lungs are clear, and there isn’t any blood loss. Naturally I wish she was feeling better, but I am happy her body is working well!
Legacy Emanuel hospital in Portland Oregon has been absolutely wonderful. The doctors are first class and the nurses are very capable and helpful.
I would like to also apologize if you feel slighted for not having been notified more personally. Please feel free to give me a call or send an email as I’m trying to connect Colleen with the outside world as much as possible. I think Colleen is remembering more than I am right now and I don’t even have any Dilaudid in me! (The morphine didn’t do much for her.)
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dilaudid or Drugstore Cowboy here’s a lighter view of the drug… Much lighter:
What is Dilaudid? (Warning: Rated R perhaps, take with grain of salt)
