Recovery room ho!

5:15 pm

I just spoke with Dr. Abbed, the surgeon, and he said he was very pleased with how the procedure went. He said "Robert was so tight when we opened him up, I could barely see the nerves, but we cleaned him out and put in the screws and now his back looks like a baby's. I really think he's going to feel a big difference once he heals from the surgical incisions."

Robert is going into the recovery room now. 

Dr. Abbed says he thinks Robert will probably spend a couple of hours in that recovery unit (possibly with some time in the ICU). Apparently spending time in the ICU can be a typical part of recovering from such a long episode of anesthesia. It doesn't mean anything went wrong. Dr. Abbed said his best guess at this point is that Robert won't spend any time in the ICU, but it could happen and it's not worrisome.

Dr. Abbed said I may as well just go home now and telephone later, instead of returning in person, because Robert probably won't remember talking to me anyway this evening... but if he gets into a regular room while visiting hours are still in effect, I think I'll come back down just to see how he is situated. 

It's been a long day but not a terrible one. I had an excellent chicken curry sandwich. I worked on some projects and listened to an online class on "living in the now." And the whole day was delightfully punctuated by short bursts of emotional support coming at me from my entire social network -- the real social network, the one where people care about you and are nice to you. Thanks, folks.