DAN'S SURGERY

Poor Dan ended up having to have gall bladder surgery on his 60th birthday, August 15. He went to the hospital on Sunday, the 12 in extreme pain. They thought at first he had a bowel obstruction and put an NG tube down his nose and into his abdomen to try to break it up. He was on morphine every three hours for his pain. The second day the pain from the obstruction had subsided, but the pain had moved to his right upper quadrant. They did an ultra-sound and found that his gall bladder was LOADED with stones and "slush". They decided surgery was needed and scheduled him for Wednesday morning. We were so blessed that Dr. Maier was the Dr. to do the surgery because he was the same surgeon that did Dan's gastric bypass surgery in 2005, so we know him and have every confidence in him.


So the night before his surgery, Dan had a bit of a panic attack and scared the crap out of me. He started shaking really, really bad. I thought maybe he was cold and went and got him a couple warm blankets, one for over his shoulder and one for across his front. He still kept shaking so I went and got his nurses. His blood pressure had dropped to 80/47, his temp was 102, his heart rate was 145 and his blood sugars were 201. Everything was messed up. The nurses got on the phone with the Docs and did everything they could do to bring him back to normal. The Doctors were prepared to go in and do his surgery that night on an emergency basis, but, those amazing, incredible nurses got everything back in order.

After his surgery his surgeon came to see me and told me Dan had a gangrenous gall bladder and that it was a darn good thing we got him in there when we did. So, let me give you a bit of ironic timeline going on for him right now. I already mentioned that he had the surgery on his 60th birthday....August 15th. Now, he is retiring from 37 years of Federal service on Sept. 1 and they are having his retirement party on August 22nd. Which is this Wednesday. We are hoping he feels well enough to go to his party. After that, we'll see if he makes a few days back to work before retirement!

Once he's retired, we are free! our first trip is to go see Megan and her husband Victor. They are doing the bow elk hunt down there where they live. Dan wasn't able to draw for the bow hunt in their area, so we'll just be hanging out with them. Then we go to New Mexico for a nephews birthday, then to Oklahoma for a nieces wedding, then to Michigan so I can meet some of my biological family I've never met, and then to Ann Arbor to see more family and hopefully to take in a University of Michigan football game, then on to Rochester, Michigan where I  grew up. On the way back, we'll go through Minnesota to see some of Dan's family. It will be a long trip , so we're really hoping Dan is all better by then.

Well, I am grateful for all the prayers and good thoughts our friends and family sent out for Dan's surgery and speedy recovery, and I hope they keep coming! Thanks y'all!!