Old Faithful

Don't get your hopes up - its Bob again. So you'll have to suffer through another post of my ramblings. Last night was a long night and it was filled with seemingly necessary interruptions - I just wish those interruptions weren't like Old Faithful - every hour on the hour. Last night brought an interesting revelation though- we are not on our time while here. The nurses and really anyone with a hospital badge, seems to enjoy the right to come in at any time of the night and check up on Jenny or even empty our trash cans - and that is not a joke it really happened. I suppose when the garbage truck is coming you gotta get the trash out no matter what right? I hope they recycle though...

Jenny was prodded, poked, pushed, pinched, pricked and to top it all off, parched all night. But true to form, she did not complain once. She obliged every request to take her blood pressure, temperature, draw blood (which happened 3 times in a 12 hour span) and to reposition her body in ways that would seem unbearable for a woman who just came out of major surgery. I struggled to not get angry but my wife's calm example each time they came in reminded me how much I have to learn from her.

After the surgery yesterday the doctor told me he would be in very early to see Jenny. I didn't realize early to him meant 4:30am. He rolled in ready to go, woke Jenny right up and started asking questions. Thanks to the pink vinyl sofa, I was already alert. He basically gave the same info he gave yesterday but in a more positive tone. We talked about types of potential treatment based on the pathology report (which will come Monday we hope) but he was clear that we would treat this aggressively. It was nice to hear him more positive and certainly helped start the day a bit better than it ended yesterday.

However today was not without it's own set of challenges - these are the challenges that come when your body is screaming at you for subjecting it to surgery. Subsequently Jenny has been in quite a bit of pain today. She has utilized the green self medicate button quite a bit to help alleviate the pain and pressure she feels. Imagine pinching your skin on something like a nail. It hurts and the pain is acute and focused right where the injury occurred. Jenny has over 30 staples in her and a incision that is about 1 foot long. Almost every time she moves she feels pinching in many places at once. To add further discomfort, her body is bruised and simply aches. My heart just goes out to her and I would trade places with her right now if I could. It's hard to see your best friend in this much pain all the while trying to justify that pain as a means to rid herself of what is actually threatening her. The medicine though makes her sleepy and she probably slept over 15 hours during the day. She was not allowed to eat or drink anything again so it has been since Sunday that she last ate. Hopefully tomorrow the doctor will allow her to start drinking a bit. Her patience and attitude toward this continue to amaze me. I would be belligerent, screaming, ranting and raving to eat something by now. Jenny continues to be calm and take things as they come. I really believe she is the one creating the peace that continues to reside in our room.

I again express my love and thanks to each of you. More and more people are now aware of what is going on and the outpouring of support hasn't let up at all. So many of you want to help somehow or in someway. I can tell you that for now knowing you are keeping us in your prayers is carrying us through this. I am so thankful to those that are watching our children and making sure they are loved and cared for. They are just as much a part of this, they just don't know it because of your help.

Tomorrow brings a new day and hopefully she gets more of her strength back. I imagine it will be like Old Faithful again tonight. I put the trash can outside the room though. Its round two between me and the pink sofa and I think its going to be another battle...