State of the Family Address
A few days ago I attempted to post a blog about how things have been going with Justin, Jordan and myself, but alas, blogspot ate it before I could post it, and I was too irritated to attempt to recreate it. So here is the current version: Justin had surgery on Friday, March 5. It took three very long hours, but seems to have been successful. The (highly reputed) surgeon found the leak in his lung, cut out the weak area, stapled his lung back up, and put in some talc to cause the lung to scar and adhere to the chest wall so his lung won't be able to collapse again. The surgeon said that he's never seen a leak in that location with a spontaneous lung collapse, but he found nothing else of concern.
After the surgery it seemed like Justin was hooked up to just about everything possible. He had an IV with a morphine drip, a separate ball with narcotics going directly into his incision, an epidural for pain, a monitor hooked up to his finger to measure heart rate and oxygen level, a catheter, an oxygen mask, and these things on his legs to keep blood clots from forming (which he had to wear over white thigh high nylon stockings - very masculine). Needless to say, he was stuck in bed for several days. Then on Monday they unhooked him from everything, and on Tuesday they sent him home with a big old bottle of Percaset (no idea how to spell that).
It would have been wonderful to have him home, but of course, I got the stomach flu Monday night and couldn't even pick him up from the hospital. His grandma had to come and get him, and then she sterilized everything in the house and gave bottles of hand sanitizer and containers of Lysol disinfecting wipes to Justin and me. Then I laid on the couch and felt like a leper for the next couple days. Naturally, in spite of everything, Justin still got the flu and was miserable (and terrified that he would rip his lung open every time he threw up) for a good 48 hours. Things have finally settled down and he seems to be recovering well, if slowly. I'm back to work at last (oh the joy), and Justin's grandma comes up every morning to help with Jordan since Justin can't lift him until April at the earliest.
I want to thank everyone for all of their thoughts, prayers, and other miscellaneous help. We certainly couldn't have gotten through this on our own. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!