Starting Again

Well it’s been quite the week at Duke Medical Center! The good news is that the surgery to address the bacterial infection around Pop’s sternum went well. The clean out procedure went as planned and IV antibiotics should resolve any remaining hint of infection. The surgeon also transferred some fat tissue from Pop’s abdomen to his chest to fill in gaps created by all the carpentry they have been doing in his chest.

However, the sum total of the above efforts was 4 1/2 hours of surgery. And as easy as people from Los Angeles may make it sound to move fat tissue from one part of your body to another, that is a major procedure in its own right! As a result, Pop has been managing a lot of post-op pain and fatigue these these few days. His abs are too sore to be able to inhale fully so he is back on a small oxygen tank to breathe.

“I feel like I’ve been moved back to the starting line in terms of recovery,” Pop shared. “Back on oxygen, back on a liquid diet. A liquid diet that I have mainly been refusing to eat!” But much better to start again now than to be feeling even further along in recovery and then be thrown back by a much more serious infection addressed too late.

Despite these challenges, Pop is on track to leave the hospital again tomorrow (Monday). He will discharge with a PICC line so he can continue to receive IV antibiotics at home. When you are trying to reduce pain and avoid infection, the hospital is often not the best place to be, so the discharge alone is a positive step.

Pop also said he could really use a hug! So Susie will be standing in for all of us tomorrow to that most important job.