I've been pretty busy, so I'm just now getting to posting a blog. Briefly, Mike's surgery lasted 12 hours Thursday. Immediately following surgery he was admitted to the ICU where he remains 4 days later. The surgery itself went well, with not surprises other than the fact the surgeons discovered that his jaw was already broken. That would explain the intense and sudden pain at the start of the New Zealand trip. For the past three days they've kept him sedated to give the graft a chance to heal. He's having a couple of complications, including infection that's going to keep him in the ICU a little longer.
After Marie and I left the hospital last night (May 3) at 6:30, Mike went into A-fib and stayed that way until sometime around 5:30 this morning when he returned to normal sinus rhythm. When I got to the hospital at 6:15 he was still sedated, had good coloring and was resting comfortably. As soon as the ICU critical care docs, maxofacial docs and plastics (their term, not mine for plastic surgery) showed up around 6:45 and started poking around in his mouth, he and his assigned nurse got very agitated, BP & HR went up (hers too), breathing became labored (she was huffing and puffing) and he looked very uncomfortable. She was livid. He still has temp that is spiking up to 104 so they are changing or adding to current antibiotics. All sorts of cultures have been taken the last couple of days when the fever started so those results should be in soon. There was a little bit of drainage anterior side of the flap so they took a culture from that area this morning. A little too soon for an infection to show up there, but they are still taking precautions. Once everyone left the room, the nurse and the respiratory therapist were able to make some adjustments to the ventilator and some of the sedatives so he was calm when I left to meet Melissa at home.
The plan for today is to slowly start to wake him up. Visitors are allowed, but are going to be asked not to interact with him so that he remains calm. I think it's more him wanting to talk and breathe on his own that upsets him. (Can you picture mike being quiet?)
Whenever possible I try to remind them that he is a real person with goals and dreams so when Dr. Roser told me this morning that this was going to be a marathon, I told him and the "doogie howser" team in the room with him that Mike's running shoes for the Peachtree Road Race were delivered to the house yesterday. Everyone starting grinning and chuckling because they remembered during the post-op visit with me that I had told them that he was planning on walking the Peachtree this year. At least they know they've got a real fighter on their hands.
Team Mike - put on your running shoes and rev up the good vibes, wishes and prayers.
Please feel free to share with others.
Terry
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