Eddie Update

I have tried writing this blog entry numerous times, and for some reason I’m finding it very difficult. It all comes out like crap, and I’m not capturing what I want to capture. The bottom line is that Edison has now been home from the hospital for two full days. He’s doing well, but I admittedly wish he seemed more enthusiastic than he often does. I think the only reason my hopes are higher is because Edison seemed happier and happier each day after the surgery, and at times, he almost seemed like his old self. He would laugh and make silly jokes. Then, when we brought him home, he amazed us by freely walking around the house, unhesitatingly climbing up and down on the couch or bending down to pick something up, and asking for and eating various foods. It was so awesome to see him behaving largely like normal. Since then, however, he has seemed a bit less cheerful. He seems tired, which makes sense, and his spirits don’t seem quite as high. I don’t think anything’s wrong with him, but I let myself worry sometimes anyway. I know there is still a chance of an abscess forming at the surgical site, and I know that if such an abscess does form, Edison’s condition will regress. Thus, anytime he is even remotely less chipper than he was a few minutes earlier, I start to fret. I know I’m being a bit irrational, but that’s how I feel.

On the plus side, Edison’s digestive system now seems to be operating at normal. This was one of my biggest sources of fear. The appendix has nothing to do with digestion, but having surgery can upset the digestive system and it can take a few days for things to “wake up,” as the nurses at the hospital put it. For the first few days after surgery, the nurses and doctors who would listen to Edison’s stomach always said they wished it were making more noise. I was worried that this would delay us in coming home. Finally, I was put at ease by a surgeon who assured me that, since Edison had had a bowel movement 48 hours after surgery, things had to be working. According to her, we didn’t need to worry even though another 48 hours or so had passed and another bowel movement had yet to follow. I was extremely grateful on Sunday morning when Edison’s stomach suddenly sounded a lot more active. He didn’t have another bowel movement until Monday, over 72 hours after his first post-surgery BM, but he ended up having three by the time Monday was over. And two today, so things are looking good. (Well, not literally, I guess. It looks quite gross, but we’re happy about it.)

Another high point since Edison’s return home is when he took his first shower. Because he cannot submerge his surgical wounds, he cannot take a bath like he is accustomed to. And so, yesterday, Melanie gave him a shower. He was quite reluctant about that at first, but he decided he quite enjoys them. He told Melanie he wants to take a shower everyday now. How mature, eh?

Melanie and I have been sad that we haven’t taken more pictures to chronicle this ordeal. Our camera battery was dead, and up until this evening, we thought we had lost the battery charger. We assumed we left it in the hotel in Orlando when we recently went to Disney World. Then, tonight, Melanie finally stumbles upon the charger when we’re not even looking for it. Of course, this happens the day after I order a replacement charger online. Oh well. Hopefully that one can be returned without much of a problem. All said and done, what this means is that we have only two pictures of Edison during his time in the hospital. They were taken by me on my cell phone, which means the image quality is very poor. The photos were taken on Wednesday, March 30th at 4:42 a.m. as Edison got wheeled down to the pre-surgery waiting room. I had considered taking photos with my cell phone before this, but it usually didn’t seem like an ideal time. I finally snapped these photos at the behest of the guy (a surgical nurse, I assume) in the first image below. He was quite adamant that I take a photo, and that he be included in it. He was rather upbeat about it all, like it was something really cool. It struck me as a bit odd, especially since I don’t think he was even going to be a part of Edison’s surgery in particular. Anyway, these are the only two photos we have, so here they are.


Notice in this second picture that Edison is licking his lips. He did this constantly after being taken to the ER. He was incredibly thirsty, but as soon as they knew they would be doing a CT scan, and afterward knowing that they would be doing surgery, they did not allow him to drink any water. They did not even allow him to suck on an ice chip. Even in Edison’s sleep, his tongue kept lapping at his lips, trying to moisten them. It was sad.