8 days & counting

One week ago right now I handed off my baby boy for a 6 1/2 hour surgery.

After watching him disappear down the hallway with the OR nurse, there was nothing much for us to do but head for the waiting room... and...well.... wait.
The wait started with 5 of us, and then 2 more added on, and then more and more. We were so glad to have visitors to help pass the time. We didn't spend the whole time stressed or sitting silently or anything. Yes, we were distracted, and sometimes tense, but we laughed and talked and ate too.

Every so often, phone on a shelf on the wall would ring. Greg was always the one to answer. On the other end was Alan's nurse in the OR, letting us know what was happening. The phone would ring, and the waiting room would go silent. Greg would listen, and then turn to us to report: "They just now got all his IV's and lines in and surgery is about to start"
or
"The old liver is out and the new one is going in"
or
"The new liver is in and blood flow is good. Just another hour or two to finish up."

At one point in the middle of the afternoon someone brought out Alan's old liver for us to see. I won't post a pic of that here. :) Unless, of course, you want to see it. ;)

Finally, around 7pm, Alan was brought up to ICU. Once he was all settled in, we were allowed to come in and see him.



And that is where we've been for the past week. Three people are allowed in Alan's room at a time. We take turns. We take shifts.

We've had visitors. We've had meals. We've slept (in all sorts of places, and all sorts of combinations).

Time will drag, and then time will fly. We talk on the phone. We do stuff on the internet (Praise the Lord for laptops!!!).

For all the medical stuff, you can go here and read the journal for the past week.

Or for the more random 'what we're doing' type info, check back here. Now that I'm all caught up on the story, who knows what I'll find time to write about. ;)