Surgery Update

My oldest son had his spine surgery yesterday and all went well.  Approximately 6 hours of surgery...
 
He had a great attitude going into the OR and a good sense of humor (or humour) coming out.  In the recovery room,with a croaky, straining voice, he told the nurses that he wasn't dead, only mostly dead. 
 
He's on some serious pain killers and he still has a lot of pain.  Physical therapy starts tomorrow and they're telling him that that's when the real pain begins.
 
Pain management is going to be our challenge for next next 6 - 12 months.
 
I'm proud of him.

Great news Bubba. I hope that Bubba Jr. will have a speedy recovery.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery from the east coast as well. 

He sounds like a trooper.  And like he's got one heck of a dad.  Tell him we're all pullin for him, will ya?

ditto

I hope it all goes well Bubba.

Best of luck for his speedy recovery. Good to hear the suregery went well and he's having a positive attitude about it (that's 80% of his road to a quicker recovery). 

(Another well wisher from "Bubba's Mosh Pit")

Thanks everyone!  I appreciate your encouragement and support.  He's doing well.  He's still in the hospital, but he's already been able to walk down the hall and walk up and down stairs (with guidance and assistance by Physical Therapists).

The real issue now is pain management.  As of Saturday night, he was unable to sleep more than 30 minutes to 1 hour at a time due to the pain.  This pain is in spite of more drugs than I can remember pumping into him via IV and oral medication.  The resident finally ordered an increase in his pain medication and he was able to sleep for a couple of hours at a time.  They are trying to wean him off of the IV and I think they took away too much pain medication without replacing it with an oral alternative.  Of course, the anesthesiologist blamed my son for causing his own pain.  I had words with her and he became the proud owner of stronger pain medication.  If she has any sense, she won't try that with me again.

My wife and I were there all day Tuesday for the surgery, then my wife stayed with him 24 hours a day till Friday.  I took over on Friday at noon and she rested up over the weekend.  I sat with him from Friday at noon until Sunday noon.  I got about 30-45 minutes sleep over that time.  Sunday afternoon, I took a 1 hour nap, then went to go pick up my other kids.  Last night, I was able to get about 6 hours of sleep.  I'm working remotely from the hospital, so I don't have the luxury of catching up on my sleep right now.  I'm drinking coffee like you would not believe.  At this point, they could tap my blood, drain a few pints, and those who come within 15 feet of the extracted blood would travel forward in time.