Answer: Surgery at UIC -- Question: How Gary "Celebrated" the eleven month anniversary of his Transplant Surgery!

Gary always enjoyed watching Johnny Carson especially when he would have a Carnac segment, hence the title of this post.

Tuesday morning, I woke up to the sound of Gary vomiting. After trying for most of the day to keep him hydrated, it was decided that we needed to bring him to the UIC ER. We assumed that he was dehydrated, and that more then likely it would be a long night of waiting, and from past experience he would probably be admitted sometime during the night for observation and that Peter and I would be coming home in the forecasted heavy snowstorm.

As the evening went on, they began to suspect appendicitis. They finally admitted and brought him to a room at 5am, but they were not sure what time surgery would be yet, since he had to be fit into the schedule. We all tried to sleep for the next few hours, but as I am sure most of you know, hospital sleeping is not very restful or comfortable.

By mid morning we found out that the Transplant surgeons would be doing the surgery and that they were figuring they would more then likely be able to remove the appendix laparoscopically which would take about 45 minutes to an hour, but if they ran into too much scar tissue, they would would have to open him up, so it would take a little longer.  We did all have a bit of a chuckle that surgery was happening 11 months to the day and almost at the same time as his transplant surgery had happened.

They took him into the OR room about 12:15 PM.  We decided to eat lunch and then wait figuring the surgery wouldn't be long. We were waiting and waiting and having trouble finding out what was going on. After waiting about 2 hours we found out that he was still in surgery but that his surgery hadn't started until 1:09pm.  We started assuming that they must have run into scar tissue and so assumed they had to open him up.

When it started becoming longer, the messages were "he's doing good but still in surgery", but slowly we were being just told "they are still working on him". It was after 6pm when Peter and I were called that the surgeon was ready to talk to us while Gary was being closed.

Surgery ended up being more extensive then originally thought. The surgeon was very good at explaining what all happened and even drew a picture to help especially me, understand more. The inflammation had spread beyond the appendix to the Cecum and surrounding Colon tissue.  Seeing this, they needed to perform a Right Hemicolectomy along with the Appendectomy, which involved taking the Appendix, Cecum, and part of the Colon and then reattaching the remaining portion of Colon to the Small Intestine. The doctor also explained that it had turned out to be very major surgery and possibly rougher on his body then the Transplant Surgery he had 11 months before.  Gary's transplanted Pancreas, which was placed right behind that area, had not been affected, and that his transplanted Kidney looked fine. The doctor also told us that he would be putting him into Transplant ICU rather than the step-down unit as he had originally been placed in and expected to return to. It was still about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before we were able to see him.

Shortly after we saw him, Peter and I went home exhausted. We had no idea what we would find since there had been quite a bit of snow since we came in the evening before so it was a very, very nice surprise to find the driveway shoveled and we could pull right in.  We have wonderful neighbors!!! Thank you so much whomever helped with that!!!

A good friend brought me in on Thursday morning on her way to work in the city, and Peter was able to go back to work.  Gary was in a lot of pain all day and did not seem to have processed all that had happened. In the morning, the nurses were having trouble with the pump that would give him his pain medication and they finally had it working correctly in the early afternoon. I kept noticing that it would stop working every time he would push the button, so I finally asked the nurse he had whether he was even getting any of the pain medication because of the pattern I was seeing. I think she didn't realize that I understood how the machine worked, since she explained that if he would push it before it was time, he wouldn't get any and she didn't seem to understand what I was trying to explain. Shortly after, one of the many groups of doctors came by to see us and I explained again and some of them did understand. Another nurse was able to fix the machine with a "new set of eyes", but as one of the doctors said, he is probably having to catch up in the treating of his pain.  His right lung also partially collapsed so we need to work hard on his breathing as pneumonia can become a complication from that.

Today, Peter brought me in and went into work late. He is looking much better and is not in as much pain, but still has a ways to go. He is doing better at breathing and using his "after surgery blowing machine".  If you've ever had surgery you know how much fun those are when you are in pain, but Gary is slowly getting better at it. They also took him for a CT Scan which really tired him out. This afternoon they had him sitting in a chair to help with his breathing which will help the lung to re-inflate.

Gary is getting better, but his recovery will be longer than initially thought.  He is still in the Transplant ICU, still has tubes and IVs that he is attached to, but he is on the road to recovery.

Some of the things we are so thankful for:

1) We are glad we followed protocol and came to UIC ER so Gary would not have to be transferred to here.

2) We are thankful for the Transplant Team of surgeons which made the long wait even more bearable because we knew that they would be doing all they could to protect the transplanted organs and as we often hear in the ER and have also experienced, "They are very protective of THEIR Transplant Patients".

3) Very thankful for all the thoughts, prayers, words of encouragement from so many of our family, extended family, our church family, and many friends.

4) So thankful that Gary's transplanted organs are still fine and working well.

5) and so many other things that I am sure I am missing.

Thank you once again for "continuing to walk this journey" with us. It means a lot.

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest."

~~ Matthew 11:28 NIV