Surgery Day went well

The neck surgery today went very well. The surgeon was pleased and felt that he was able to fully decompress the nerve roots on the right side. He got the MRI scans to review them and did not see anything on the left so he did not do anything on that side. It took a long time to get a room because TJ is on an insulin drip again. He has a little insulin pump he usually uses at home but the nurses in the hospital don't do the home pumps (about as large as a pager) so he was put on a drip. The post op neuro nurses don't do insulin drips and the nurses on the units that do drips don't do post op neuro patients so he ended up in the same ICU as he was in in December! One of our favorite nurses was in charge and it was great to see him again.

Now TJ is not in the ICU because he is so sick, instead it is a staffing issue for the hospital. TJ is doing well. He has no pain in his arms although the numbness on top of his right arm is still there. The surgeon said that the he expected the pain to go pretty quickly but numbness and strength in his right hand would take longer to improve. It is a huge praise that the pain in his arms is gone. He does have pain at the incision site but his very sweet evening nurse was on top of that. I expect that his night will not be comfortable and the ICU is noisy but he said that he can sleep when he gets home. It should be a one or two night stay. The insulin drip will be discontinued tonight so he will probably go to a regular post op neuro unit if there is a bed available.

Prayer requests would be for full recovery of feeling and function of his right arm and an uncomplicated recovery. We are really ready for uncomplicated right about now!

Grateful again for all your support.

Mary Ann