Jac’s surgery

EDIT #1: 7:14am Friday: I’m heading to the hospital again this morning. Not sure when the surgeon will be along to see Jac. Just spoke to her on the phone – she had a very bad night with terrible pain. The passing of the stones will be also very painful (yes – I had been expecting this, and no – it hasn’t happened yet) – it is likely we’ll have to deal with it when she is home. Poor Jac. Obviously it is a relief she’s gotten through the surgery ok so far, but there unfortunately there are still more *challenges* to get through. Pessimist tfp always had a feeling it would not be straightforward. :( Anyway, I will tell her about your latest comments when I see her this morning (thank you again!).

Thank you very much to everyone who’s emailed and commented to ask about Jac. I’ve been passing your wishes, interest and concern to Jac (you guys are going to make her think she’s a celebrity! :-P).

I’ll try to be as brief as possible in giving you the main details. She had the keyhole surgery to remove her gall bladder on Tuesday afternoon. During the surgery they found that there were three or four gall stones lodged in her bile duct (careful readers of this site may remember the ultrasound had suggested there might be stones in the bile duct). These should really be removed, as they could 1) cause further pain (they may have been the cause of her pain attack) or 2) move into other areas and cause future infections or organ complications/problems such as pancreatitis. And so Jac has not been home yet – they did a second procedure this afternoon under general anaesthetic with a device down her throat to poke the stones through the duct so that they can be um, pooed out. Jac rang me from her room following the surgery, groggy but sounding quite herself – apparently the surgeons are pleased with how this second procedure has gone. Fingers crossed there will be no further complications from either procedure. Jac has been going crazy with boredom being stuck in hospital. I think it’s not so much that she has nothing to do; she has books/magazines galore, and TV to watch – it’s just that she is normally such an active person and knowing that she can’t just do what she normally would is annoying her. She hasn’t been in too much pain (good drugs!) but is stiff all around her abdomen area. She does get pain every now and then from her wounds when she moves to go to the loo or sits up but it’s not toooo bad so far. She is keen to come home. We’ll find out tomorrow morning if she is to be discharged tomorrow (Friday) or on the weekend EDIT #2, 7:14am Friday: but really, we have no idea exactly when she will come home. It has been difficult getting information at every step of the process – I’m far from impressed about certain aspects of her care, but I will save that for a possible future post.

Oh yes, and the stones! Some of them are HUGE! I won’t be posting a photo of them here because they look pretty gross, but I’ll describe them to you – she has them in a jar of liquid – the stones are rough and brownish like mossy rocks. Looking into the jar of stones I am reminded of a dirty rock pool – it looks as if there should be little crabs scuttling amongst them and barnacles growing on them. Really! It’s quite amazing to think that she’s been carrying those things around with her all this time. She said the surgeons are quite impressed by their size – and I’m sure she’ll be showing them off proudly to any visitors who are interested.

And so I’ve been hanging out with her at hospital during the day, reading when she’s sleeping and having lunch in the hospital cafe downstairs during the patient rest/no visitors time, then returning to her room to hang out some more before coming home late afternoon/early evening. I have been taking food photos too – I just have to get the time and energy to upload and post them. Right now I need to have some dinner, keep going through email and have a rest. Thank you once again for all your interest and concern, and your patience too. I promise I’ll get back to food pics and replying to comments when I can. There is leftover food in the fridge but I think it’s comfort food (SPAM and egg and rice) time.

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