Before I begin, I will give fair warning that I am posting graphic pictures this post. So don't read if you can't handle it!
We've spent a long, boring few days in the hospital. I'm used to being with someone that doesn't feel good at the hospital, not someone that feels fine. Each day we got to break away for just a few minutes, but we had to haul along the huge IV pole with antibiotics and everyone stared at us, especially when it started beeping. So we kept our little outings short. Luckily he has had a pretty view from his room, and we've been able to watch the life-flight helicopters come in and go out while watching a LOT of TV and movies. We also had a doctor for a couple days that looked like he was about 24, and he was from Seattle. So I asked him about my show, Grey's Anatomy (because it takes place in Seattle), and was quite disappointed to learn that most of that show is not real at all. It's completely dramatized! Imagine that! But it was still disappointing. Here I thought I was learning a lot about medicine! Anyway, I think he considered us fun patients. At least we're good for something around there!
Surgery was today at about noon. We heard so many different things all weekend that we didn't know what to expect.... that they were removing the plate and replacing it, that they were leaving the plate in and just cleaning the area really good, that surgery would be 30 minutes... Anyway, surgery lasted about 3 1/2 hours, they "chiseled out" the old plate (doctor's words) and replaced it with a new one. The new one has titanium, but I'm not sure if it's attached to the acrylic piece or not. He said he had to pull the skin pretty tight and use heavy-duty staples that need to be left in for about 4 weeks. They acted like they need to watch everything carefully. Luckily they said it was not in the brain, so they expect a mild recovery. The bad news is that they said he has to have a PICC line again, but they think it will only be for 7-10 days. We can handle that, we're just worried it's going to turn out to be 8 weeks like before! The doctor said that the new plate has antibiotics and should do the trick. But they did say he's at a higher risk of infection from surgery. I think we already figured that one out! I just can't believe his head is re-opened AGAIN. He was healing up so good this last time. In fact, he had some girls at Costa Vida ask him about two weeks ago what type of surgery he had and when, and they were shocked when he said 2 months ago. Hopefully this one will heal up as well as the last one, but I'm not sure how the doctor was able to pull the skin shut where Jared had a huge gaping hole. It could be interesting.
When I left him, he was still pretty drugged up. We were hoping he could come home tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen. Luckily he's not in the NICU (Intensive Care), he went straight to the NACU (Acute Care). That's a first.
The kids are coming home tomorrow. It's been weird to come home at night to an empty house. I don't think I've been completely alone at night since I got married.
To share a quick story - Jared's anesthesiologist today was a guy from Scotland. He checked Jared's wrist band to make sure he had the right guy. Jared joked that it would be hard to fake it, and I said that someone would have to fake the scar, too, by cutting their head up. He said, "You'd be REALLY surprised at the stuff we see in here." In other words, it wasn't too far-fetched. He said just last week they had a prisoner come in that had completely cut himself up, probably trying to get out of the prison for a couple days.
Anyway, it's amazing at how quickly this infection turned ugly. But again, we're just glad it wasn't in the brain. Here are the pictures of the one-week progression: The last one looks disgusting, but at least the pus had completely cleared out. I'm not sure if that's his skull or the acrylic piece. It's probably the piece.
