Tales from the hospital - Part 1 - by Kevin

Although Roni was good at keeping the blog updated while we were at the hospital, there were some things she didn't write about. I'll try to write about some of our experiences while we were there.


As you already know, the surgery at Washington DC lasted 10 hours. What you haven't been told is what it was like coming out of the surgery.

Honestly, I was pretty doped up so I don't remember that much, but here is what I do remember.

After the surgery, I was moved to recovery then to ICU.

Because the surgery was so long and complicated, they left the breathing tube down my throat to help me breathe. They also had an NG tube going in my nose and down my throat into my stomach. This was used to empty the liquids that collect in the stomach and is one of the most uncomfortable things in the world. Apart from the two tubes going down my throat, I also had 4 drains in my abdomen and three in my chest. These were used to drain fluids from their respective areas. I also had a chest port used for pumping liquid nutrition and other IV fluids into me. With all of these tubes, they tied my hands to the bed to make sure I would not pull anything out after coming out of surgery.

I don't know if you have ever had the feeling of complete helplessness, but if you can imagine being tied up, not being able to talk, being half conscious and not really knowing where you are or who is around you, you might get an idea of what my first day was like.

Since I couldn't talk, I was given a pen and a piece of paper to write with. As my penmanship is bad normally, I can only guess at how bad it was when I was doped up on pentonol. The nurses must have learned to decipher bad handwriting because the did a good job of figuring out what I wanted.

As I said before, I don't remember much of that time, but I do remember Roni being there and saying that the doctor believed he got everything and that although I still have the ileostomy, it would be able to be reversed at a later time. I was really hoping the doctor would've been able to reverse it then, but just knowing that it was not permanent was good enough.

I was in ICU for only a day (the doctor said that I would probably be there two) before being moved to my own private room. Well, private in the sense that there were no other patients in there. Roni stayed with me most of the time, being relieved by friends and family so she could get some much needed rest. I was never left alone until the last few days I was there. Even though I was out of ICU in only a day, I wouldn't be out of the woods for a couple of weeks.