Post-op days 2 and 3

Saturday
I missed most of Sarah's first day as I slept while her mom sat with her. When I saw her Friday afternoon she looked really great. Saturday, day 2 post op, she was still in a lot of pain. Most of the pain is a headache and a great deal of neck pain.

Her chin is stitched to her chest to keep her neck flexed. The stitch length is about 3". It is one thread that runs through her chin and around through the skin on her chest. It's purpose to let her know when she is trying to move her head too much. The Dr will remove the chin stitch when she is discharged.

Sarah's chin stitch

Saturday morning started off difficult. The nurse suggested that Sarah should try to get up and walk (crutch) a bit. She made her first attempt at 10:00 am Saturday morning. It was very difficult for her to get up because her neck and head were hurting so badly. She made it up to the side of the bed but was too dizzy to go any farther. She laid back down in bed, very frustrated and upset with herself. I tried to reassure her that it was ok and that she just needed a little more time to recover.

God's timing is always perfect. Just a few minutes after she laid down, both of our phones started chiming with text message alerts. Not just a few alerts. It kept going. And going. For nearly 5 solid minutes. Our Park Plaza church family was at a marriage retreat and they were flooding us with text messages containing prayers and words of encouragement! We received over eighty messages in just a few minutes. Nothing I said to her could have made the impact on her attitude that those messages did! She was able to get up and make it to the restroom just an hour after we received the messages. Later, she was able to make it down the hall and sit in the solarium for half an hour. I know many of those that sent messages will never read this, but those that do, please know that you were God's instrument of encouragement. Thank you!

Sarah reading the texts.

Up and walking! Kinda! :)

Relaxing in the solarium.

Sarah was worn out after the trip to the solarium and back. She laid down and took a short nap, which was good to see her comfortable enough to do so. Later that afternoon, we recieved eighty more text messages from our Park family. We are so blessed to be a part of such a great church and have such fantastic friends who have gone out of their way to let us know we are being prayed for.

Sarah had the opportunity to meet Teresa, a woman with whom she is Facebook friends. Teresa had her resection on Wednesday, the day before Sarah. She is doing really well. Teresa has been dealing with her stenosis for eight years. She has had a much tougher road than Sarah. It was good for them to talk and encourage each other. I left Sarah at 7:00 pm that night and went with Victor to try and find a few groceries and a dry erase board.

Sunday
Today, Sunday has been a good day. A nurse practitioner removed her JP Drain and the dressing around the incision site. This was a big relief as the tape and gauze was becoming itchy and was pulling on her skin when she moved. She was able to get up and make it to the solarium again today. Teresa came by and talked with her again. She was also able to meet another woman here this week whose resection was on Tuesday. Dr. Mathisen is a very busy guy!

She is running a bit of a fever tonight. The doctor on the floor wanted to be safe so he ordered blood, urine and sputum cultures as well as a chest x-ray. He listened to her lungs and said they sounded clear. We are hoping everything comes back negative and the fever subsides soon. Tonight will be her first night without one of us staying with her. I am nervous but her nurses have been really great and they are much better at caring for her than I am!

We have still been receiving texts from friends throughout the day. I cannot imagine going through this without all the support we have had from friends and family. Thank you again.

-Jason