We got there at 06:30am, and were up in the ward to see the anesthetist by 07:00am. We had a consult with our awesome doc, who is not 'just' a doc he is a true friend by now.
At 8ish we went up to the surgery wing and met with the Prof who was there to assist. By 08:30 he was in theatre and being put under. I was told they were expecting it to take around 2.5hours from what they saw on the CT scan and the plan they had to tackle it.
I left at 08:40 and went out for a walk. Quinn had placed an order for a chocolate milk and some biltong so I thought I'd walk to the shops to get that. In the end I walked about 11km and popped into the gym too. When I got back at about 11:15 I was told they were still busy. I waited in his room and at 12:15 the anesthetist phoned to say it was taking longer than expected and they needed at least another hour or more. Yikes. By then I was tired and a bit worried too. Somehow the next hour passed by quite quickly and the doc smsed at 13:15 that they were done. What a relief! All in all he was in theatre for about 5 hours! So it was a loooong op.
He was brought down the the room and was still fast asleep on his stomach. He woke up after 10 or so minutes and was in a LOT of pain and was quite grumpy/aggro too (I know this is sometimes a side effect of the anesthetic). He insisted the bandage was too tight, and so dressings were removed and loosened but it was still 'too tight'. I am pretty sure it is from the pressure bandage IN his ear. I was trying to help him and when I asked what it felt like he said 'It feels like a too tight bandage on a sore ear!' Like duuuh! LOL, shame I did feel sorry for him, but that was a bit funny.
Anyway his pain was too much so he was given drops, Panado and then a suppository too to knock him out again.
Griffin spent 2 nights with the neighbour to free me up to spend time with Quinn. I went home to shower and see Griff while Quinn was napping...
After a 3 hour nap I was back and he woke up smiling, chirpy and full of beans. He thought it was morning already and wanted to go home! He said he felt fine and even his jaw was fine and he decided he was starving. He ate a pile of finely sliced biltong and then polished off his dinner too. (Last time he didn't want to eat much for several days as he said his jaw hurt.)
After a long Rummy playing marathon I finally left him to sleep sometimes after 20:00... but he sms'ed and phoned me to say 'Hi' and 'I love you mom' and 'I am doing well' all night instead. So kept waking me up!
*YAWN*This morning he was still happy and feeling good. Doc came to check him and then we were discharged. We ended up going for coffee with the doc where we saw some cool photos he took during the surgery and some other video footage of similar surgeries.
He also explained the whole thing and what he did and the difference between this op and the last one. So while this op took longer the damage to his ear is actually less than with the first. His right ear had a modified radical mastoidectomy and tympanoplasty and 2.5 of the 3 ossicles were destroyed and one of this tasting nerves. The left has had cortico-mastoidectomy and only the incus bone was sacrificed and they have fused the malleus directly to the stapes, so he should maintain a good functional level of hear in this ear, which is great news. I think he also had a tympanoplasty, but this time his ear canal was preserved and he does not have a the huge mastoid cavity, so healing should be a bit simpler.
He really is the nicest man. So sweet and caring. I am so so grateful to him for EVERYTHING.
Now we are home resting.
Thanks for the thoughts everyone, it is nice to know there are people thinking of him. I have read him all the sms's etc so far too. I think he likes hearing them...
Here are some photos:
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