Blake's 2nd Surgery

Blake had his 2nd surgery on July 12, 2010. The procedure went smoothly, but being that this was such an involved surgery that included at 12 to 13 vertical incision down his abdomen and a reconstruction of his small intestine to create what is called a "j-pouch", it was expected that this recovery was going to be rough. And rough it was! The first time I saw Blake after surgery he was in pretty bad shape. He was as white as a ghost and couldn't mutter more to me then "This time it was MUCH worse." He was in a lot of pain. Blake's dad and I ended up leaving that night to let Blake get some rest. We went to Chili's for dinner then checked into the Super 8 around 8 PM with the intention to visit Blake early the next morning.

When we saw him the next day, he had improved significantly. He was sitting up watching television making the best out of his situation. His recovery in the hospital was pretty smooth after that. Just 4 days after his procedure, he was discharged and we headed back to Lubbock. The next week and a half was hard to say the least. I had never seen anyone let alone my tough husband be in so much pain. In hindsight we would have stayed one more night in the hospital. His sodium and chloride levels were extremely low which caused severe nausea--not something you want to have when you have a 13 inch incision down you abdomen! After getting those levels in where they needed to be, he improved rapidly and was able to go back to work 2 weeks after his operation.

These are pictures of Lanaea during his hospital stay. I still thought Blake looked as handsome as ever, but he had banned pictures of him. The hospital rooms are really small, so I had to get creative in finding things to entertain her with. On the 17th, I put a blanket on the floor and let her stretch out some. She enjoyed this. Sitting in her travel swing all day wasn't her idea of fun; however, she did pretty good at staying content.