Thursday, June 18, 2009

Undergoing the Procedure

Jen and Ryan seem pretty happy to be taking The Dawg away, don't you think?


Javainta took his vitals. Look at that awesome smile!


Dr. Powers and several other "white coats" came in to talk to Carroll. Behind him is Dr. Schreiner. Dr. Townsend is nearby.



Here's Kelly. She's got a great smile but I caught her by surprise. She has been extremely helpful.


David is a respiratory therapist. He gave Carroll two treatments. The one this morning helped a lot.


THE PROCEDURE --

Carroll is in surgery. Oops! I'm not familiar with medical terminology; I've been advised this is NOT surgery but rather "a procedure." Sometimes I forget and use "surgery" instead of "procedure."

At 8 AM, we were told it would probably be an afternoon procedure. In fact, all along we've been told it would likely be in the afternoon. In the 8:30 to 9 am range, we were told it might be late morning, that they were waiting on a bed in ICU, because that's where he'll be after surgery. Then, around 9:30 or so, things started moving. I believe we'll know something in about two hours from right now (10:45 am).

Oops! As I typed, Dr. Steinberg walked out and told me they are getting ready to start, so, obviously, they haven't started yet.

Carroll has been extremely uncomfortable for the last 12 - 24 hours. He said he absolutely could not live like he was. He had to have help to even sit up in bed. He is looking forward to the relief this procedure should bring.

Dr. Steinberg, Dr. Timothy and Kelly have said that, if surgery goes well, Carroll should notice immediate improvement. Dr. Powers said it could be immediate or it could take several days.

When surgery is over, and if things go as expected, he will spend one night in ICU, then probably 2 or 3 nights in a regular room.

Once he is out of ICU, he should be able to have visitors or talk on the phone. Because he has been so weak and lost so much weight, he probably won't have much strength, so, if you visit or call, please limit the visit to about 10 or 15 minutes and calls to about 2 minutes. He will still need to rest a lot, so he is certainly not asking for visitors or calls.

Dr. Timothy said Carroll could be up and about some this afternoon but will still need a lot of bedrest for a while.

If you have a moment, please leave a comment under this post for Carroll to read. Since the Braves haven't been doing well lately, he needs cheering up!!!

1 comment:

John said...

Hi Carroll,
Congrats on the surg...err procedure I mean! Now get to eating and build up those tree planting muscles!
If your up to it, I'll pop in tomorrow.
By the way Gerrie(you remember my blond gooffy ex-girlfriend)is going to be at MUSC for her baby son to have a spring put in his head....long story.
glad to hear you feel better ;)