Surgery 2.0

So, Wes went in to surgery on Wednesday to do another biopsy of the mass in his throat and to remove the mass. We knew this surgery would be more serious and quite a bit more painful. The area of the surgery would be larger, and he was already told that he would have to stay in the hospital overnight.

Going through this 3 months ago still didn't make it any easier when it came to saying good-bye to him before he went in to surgery. It also didn't make it easier to see him in recovery immediately after. I hate seeing him in pain and not being able to do anything about it.

I certainly wasn't prepared for the heart break it would bring me to leave him alone overnight. I hesitated and went back and forth on the idea of staying. In the end, I knew Landon needed me at home, and there wasn't anything I could do for Wes at the hospital. I felt confident that the nurses would take care of him, but I called 2 or 3 times throughout the night just to make sure.

He had a scary episode of feeling like he wasn't able to breathe in the middle of the ngiht. Although his oxygen levels were good, the swelling was so bad that he wasn't able to swallow. They gave him steroids to bring down the swelling, and after that, he felt much better.

The whole day and night of his surgery, he wasn't allowed anything by mouth- not even water. So, needless to say, he was VERY thirsty. His mouth and throat were dry (even though they kept a continuous cool mist mask on him). So, when the speech pathologist finally said he could have food and water, he was a happy camper! I'm pretty sure that was the best ice water and jello in the world!

They kept him one more night just to make sure he'd be able to take his pain meds and eat when he got home. He came home today and is doing AMAZING! Seriously, if it weren't for the soft food diet (which he has to stay on for 3 weeks), I wouldn't be able to tell he just had surgery.

I'm impressed at how well he bounces back from these kinds of things- even though if I were him, I'd milk it for all it's worth cause I'm offering to wait on him all day and provide foot massages anytime he asks ;) But, I'm thankful that he's doing so good and I plan on doing that stuff anyway.

He deserves it!