Day 7- Surgery Day

Today Missy had surgery on her burns. Mostly on the 3rd degree areas but 2nd as well. Today I got in at 9:15am, and at around 10:15am they took Missy and I down to Pre-Op. They changed her IV for the fourth time because the line was clogged and the area looked "angry". She gets IV meds in those lines every 2-3 hours so I guess that they don't last long in the same spot. The OR nurse said that the Dr. scheduled the surgery for about 1 hour. They actually had her in surgery for about 1hr 45min and then in recovery for an additional 45min. We got back to the room about 2:15pm. As soon as we got back to the room the pain meds were wearing off from the OR so she was very uncomfortable. There are certain narcotics that they use in the OR that the burn floor can't use for some reason. Anyway, she quickly got back on the morphine and shortly after Phil and Damian showed up. They both actually only work a few short miles away on the other side of the airport. Missy actually is alot calmer when she has company because she isn't so absorbed with the pain, which then allows her not to fight the urge to doze. It's actually pretty funny to watch her in mid sentence just stop talking (with her hands up) and doze off, and then as quickly as she went away, she is back talking again! Back to the surgery!! The OR nurse came out and talked to me after the surgery to say that the areas all cleaned up nicely and that they didn't do the temporary grafting today. They took off every bit of eschar (Thick, crusty surfaces that are produced by deep third-degree burns. Eschars can become too tight, cutting off blood supply to healthy tissues) in surgery. Eschar can be a real breading ground for infection as well. Missy said that the nurse in the recovery room said that she would be having surgery again this week but the nurse on the floor hadn't heard that so we will see. Tonight she is having another debriement in the bath which she is really looking forward to, because she wants to see what they did in surgery. Her right hand has alot of new skin "buds", which is new growth with raw nerve endings so that hand hurts worse, although the left hand has the 3rd degree. We left at 6:20pm and went down to the cafeteria, which closes @ 6:30pm. Boy were we scraping the bottom tonight! I think tomorrow we will have to venture out of the hospital for dinner. The parking is just awful here, and since I leave at 10:30pm at night, I like not to be to far from where I exist the building. It's kind of creepy out there. Anyway way, after dinner Phil headed home to take care of Casey and get to bed. I got back into the room at 8pm and Missy was in real good spirits, wide a wake. We walked the halls a bit and she had a real positive attitude tonight. I hope that will stay with her but it probably won't. I have a feeling that we will be in for an emotional rollercoaster. We are still only in the stabalizing and healing mode at this time yet. But it was very nice to see her calm and comfortable. We received quite a few calls today from family and friends (in fact, my phone died) sending their prayers and get well wishes. Thanks again for all those prayers out there and thanks for thinking of us during this holiday time when you are spending it with your own families, yet also thinking of mine. Love to you all.