Hello Monday! 3.25.2024.

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. I hope you had a good weekend! 

Most of you know that my husband had major abdominal surgery on Friday morning; I am so thankful to say that we are back at home and that he is doing great! We didn't think it would be major abdominal surgery, by the way. I'd assumed it would be non-invasive, and boy was I wrong! He was cut open from his sternum to his naval. I'm shocked that the doctor thought he'd only have to stay one night in the hospital; that was very ambitious thinking on his part! When he offered another night of a hospital stay, Todd and I agreed that it would be best if he took him up on that. The IV medicine was his best friend, and so was the bed that raised and lowered. Because that's all I did this weekend, I thought I'd tell you about some of the things that I couldn't have done without this weekend, starting with this first thing that was a lifesaver.

My best friend loaned me this small duffel bag on wheels. I plan on thoroughly disinfecting it before I return it to her, but it was so convenient to wheel around all weekend. I'd asked her early last week if I could borrow this, and I so appreciated that she let me have it all weekend long. In it was my laptop with charger, my Bible, journal/gratitude journal with pens, my Kindle, chargers, and a bag full of junk food type snacks. What can I say? I can tend to be an emotional eater. 🤣 

Also, I need to tell you that my Mom, Bill, and our worship pastor and friend Joshua were three people I couldn't have lived without this weekend. Joshua was there by 6:15 a.m. Friday morning before Todd's surgery to pray for him, and my Mom and Bill were there almost as soon as he left about 15 minutes later. I so appreciated that they were there early for me to wait with me the whole time. Todd's parents came later on as well, and Mom and Bill also brought me lunch from McAlister's. 

I could not have done without this big cup and the amazing ice machine just down the hall from Todd's hospital room! It had the Sonic ice and I refilled often. I also couldn't have lived without my ear buds, because Todd slept so much the first two days. This allowed me to watch TV without disturbing him. 

I definitely could not have done without the prayers of my friends, both in real life and here in the blog world. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I really did feel the Lord near throughout the weekend.

I couldn't have done without breaks in my day and the cafeteria that the hospital has. The food was excellent, and it was nice to walk around and to eat alone without having to talk to anyone.

I am so glad I packed this fan! Todd could not have lived without it all weekend! His abdomen is wrapped very tightly in a neoprene type wrap that covers the covering over his incision, and the fabric of that wrap makes him extremely hot. He had this thing aimed at him the whole time he laid in the hospital bed!

I couldn't have done without such a great book to hold my attention so well the whole weekend! Have you read any of these books? I highly recommend them!

Todd could not have done without Graham this weekend! Todd was on a clear liquid diet for two days, and when the doctor approved him to move onto regular meals, all he wanted was a Premier protein shake. Graham brought him four with ice packs on Saturday afternoon, and I was so glad to see him. I also couldn't have done without Jonah holding down the fort at home with all things house and dog related, and Noah was the one who brought me dinner on Saturday night when nothing from the cafeteria sounded good to me. I'm so thankful for our sons! Drew came to hang out on Sunday and sat with him while I took a very long, hot shower and washed my hair. 

I couldn't have done without Snapchat to communicate with all the boys easily over the course of the weekend. I kept sending them pictures like this, or of Todd making laps around the hospital halls. 

I couldn't have done without my journal to write out my thoughts and prayers.

I couldn't have done without the hope of the view pictured above; the moment when Todd could get dressed again in his normal clothes, be unplugged from the IV, and able to sit upright in a chair all morning on the day they let him come home. I was so glad that Todd had the thought to take the prescribed meds that he takes; one of them is an anti-inflammatory. When the surgeon came in on Sunday, he told Todd to start taking ibuprofen for the pain, and Todd mentioned that anti-inflammatory. The doctor told him to take it twice a day after looking at the bottle, and that one pill at ten thirty changed the course of our day. All weekend long, Todd was asked to rate his pain from one to ten, with ten being the worst; when I asked him what it was at last night as he watched March Madness, he said it was at a zero. He told me that he feels the incision and it feels tight when he moves around, and it's a bit uncomfortable, but that it didn't hurt in the sense of him needing pain medicine. He did assure me that he would take the pain medicine if he felt like he needed it, but all evening long, he didn't. I was blown away by this.

I couldn't have done without this little corner on the couch and the slice of sunlight that the window offered me on Sunday morning. I sat right there for an hour and read while Todd alternated between napping and playing a game on his phone. 

I couldn't have done without the excitement of being back at home with Todd, doing this very thing; sitting, reading, and cuddling with a dog. 

Todd insisted that I go home both nights to sleep, assuring me that he would call on the nurse of the CNA to help him if he needed. Each night before leaving, I set him up with everything I thought he'd need to get through until when I returned the next day. Each morning I woke up and had a cup of coffee and I read my Bible, then I would get dressed and leave again before eight a.m. One morning he was waiting on me, and the second morning, he was sound asleep when I walked in. I snuck in quietly so as not to disturb him, and he slept for another fifteen minutes before waking up. 

 We did have a few things that happened while he was there that were very aggravating, but I'll save all those words for the scathing email I plan on sending to someone who cares this week. (They said to email them if there were issues, and I definitely plan on doing just that!) I prayed very specifically for the nurses that he would have, and we went out on a good note. On Saturday night, the new CNA entered his room like a breath of fresh air. I watched him perk up over her sweet spirit, her laughter, her smile, and that she cared enough about him to talk to him to get to know him. I was so thankful for this! One thing Todd loves is interacting with people and getting to know them; nobody was like this with him until Saturday night. I rode the elevator down thanking God profusely for this! 

I'll say one more thing, and I'll wrap this up. All last week when I kept talking about dreading the surgery, I kept feeling it was going to be more of an ordeal that what I'd been told. I honestly thought the surgery would be done laparoscopically until Thursday night as we drove to eat Mexican. Todd mentioned the word incisional, and I was filled with dread. His last abdominal surgery was major and he came out of it with an NG tube down his throat that stayed there for days. This time that didn't happen, but all of last week, I just kept feeling this sense of dread for whatever was to come. In some ways, I'm glad I didn't know all this, but in other ways, I think the Lord was preparing me for what was to come. It'll take him a couple of months to recover from all of the trauma that surgery is, but I am not alone in being thankful that it's now behind him, and that he can start walking the road toward full healing. 

Thanks again for your many prayers and words of encouragement, friends, and thanks for reading all the words I wrote today to process it all. Love to all!