The Operation

Richard is approaching the halfway point of the estimated 10 hour operation as I write this. It is 1:49 pm GMT now and he walked down to the operating theatre a little past 9 this morning. He was well rested, blood pressure perfect, ECG perfect, has had no weight loss and I assume his blood tests all looked very good. The doctors told me to go home to our flat in London and they would call me if needed as after the operation he will be sedated to sleep through the night and won't wake up until tomorrow morning. He will/does have an epidural to control the pain and will be in the Intensive Care ward for up to five days. They hope to get him up and walking around a bit tomorrow to decrease the possibility of a chest infection. On the fourth or fifth day they will do a "leak" test to make sure all the inner crafting is as it should be and then he will be allowed into a private room where he will be able to take liquids and some soft foods. So I imagine that will be this upcoming Saturday or Sunday and he'll probably be there for a further week until all his bodily functions have returned to a somewhat normal state and he is discharged to go home to Whithurst.

Richard was in good spirits but, as one might expect, scared of what he was about to embark upon. But, I think everybody's (including the doctors and nurses!) good wishes, thoughts, prayers, kind words and immeasurable skills have and will be sustaining and helping him (and me!) through his difficult time of unknowns. So "Thank You!" and keep it coming!

Have yet to find out about visiting hours but suspect that most visits might have to wait until he's in his private room next week.

Professor Hanna, his surgeon,  is supposed to call me when the operation is finished so I will update the blog this evening when I know how it all went.