Jared's Surgery

Going into surgery. He was so nervous!

Right after surgery and trying to eat. Poor Guy!

Lisa the Therapy Dog! So Cute!

All of his Incisions

Jared went into surgery at 10:00 monday the 6th . The procedure he had done is called Lap Nissen fundoplication it's a surgical procedure to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. During fundoplication surgery, the upper curve of the stomach (the fundus) is wrapped around the esophagus and sewn into place so that the lower portion of the esophagus passes through a small tunnel of stomach muscle. This surgery strengthens the valve between the esophagus and stomach (lower esophageal sphincter), which stops acid from backing up into the esophagus as easily. This allows the esophagus to heal. the gastric fundus (upper part) of the stomach is wrapped, or plicated, around the lower end of the esophagus and stitched in place, reinforcing the closing function of the lower esophageal sphincter: Whenever the stomach contracts, it also closes off the esophagus instead of squeezing stomach acids into it. The procedure lasted until 1:30, I was able to walk with him to his shared room and sit by his side.

He was very fiesty coming out of the anesthesia as I warned them he would be. There was so much pain on his face it was so sad, he keep swearing and demanding that he had more meds. One moment he would be cussing at something and the next he would be snoring as he was coming out. I was informed that he stopped breathing while he was under and they had him on high watch until further notice. His lungs weren't filling to the capacity that they should have been. It should be at 100+ but it kept dipping below 89 and then the vital machine would go off and the team would rush in. It only led to startling him and more fiestyness. They ended up putting him on oxygen only an hour after waking up. One nurse actually told him to watch his mouth.." story of my life at home so tico doesn't pick it up ;)" we did a few laps of walking around the ward to release the pressure in his stomach but it didn't seem to help. He was having trouble urinating so there was talk of a cathatur but he pulled through and narrowly missed that pain.

Our night didn't go very well. Jared's pain stayed up in the 7/8 range most of the night even though he was getting a double dose of morphine every 2 hours. Around 11:30 he started to spit up something and the doctors had to come poke around to make sure nothing burst or went wrong. That continued to happen until about 3 am. So between painful yet unsucessful trips to the restroom, people in and out all night for both jared and his roomie, and pleas for pain meds we had a very long night with little rest. Tuesday morning he was allowed to finally have some water but couldn't swollow. Even though he was swollen that wasn't normal. More frustration with nurses. We would call for them to ask a question or for Jared to get more medicine and they would ignore his page from upwards of 40 minutes to an hour. Then they would come in and say "oh did you want something?" While hovering in the doorway and then running out as if we were contagious. It was a long day, he finally got down some liquid at 2:30 and has been slowly improving from there. Finally at 7:30 in the evening it was announced to us that he would be staying an extra night. I decided to come home because Tico was all alone and didn't have anything to eat all day. I needed some good rest too. So He is at the hospital right now and from our last phone call still is not feeling any better. We will see what tomorrow brings. They said that he is very behind on his meal plan so I think they might hold him until he is able to eat something solid and at least have some type of Bowel movement. Poor guy! And yet through all of this he still wants a cigarette...It's so annoying!

Wednesday 8th at 11:00 I drove back to San Diego to sit with Jared until he was released from the hospital. We ended up waiting around until 3:00 before they finished all of the paper work for him to come home. He is still having a hard time with pain and using the restroom but he is doing a little better. Glad to be back in the comfort of his own home though, that's for sure!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!