Day 2 post op

So much to report, so much has happened!
Surgery on Friday went for 14 hours.  I am so amazed at my husband enduring this!
One hour in recovery then straight to ICU.
I first saw him about 7am on Saturday morning and was so surprised to find him awake, since they had told us he would be sedated for 3 days.
His face was very swollen as well as his tongue but he looked magnificent!
He has lots of stitches in his face (and today's nurse tells me he'll be all tightened up - face lift - how dare he look less wrinkled than me!!!!) and it looks like they've done a wonderful job.
They took the bone from his right leg, as it had the better vein system, and have taken the skin graft from his right thigh.
By Saturday afternoon he had that look of boredom in his eyes.  I asked him if he was bored and he nodded.  Damn its going to be a long couple of weeks if he's already bored 1 day out of surgery!
Luckily they have TV in the ICU so I organised for him to have TV so he could watch his beloved Swanies win!  He does have his Swanies scarf draped around the base of his bed.
The last time I saw him (about 6.30pm) he was so tired - they are checking his vitals every 30 minutes - unfortunately it's quite obtrusive as they have to check the pulse in his gum they made for him to make sure everything is good.
Last night I slept better!
This morning I didn't get to him until about 9.30 as I had a nice sleep in.
The swelling is going down even more, and he had a good night.
I was there when the re-constructive/plastic surgeon came in and his is really pleased with the way everything went.  Asked me if I wanted to have a look and I politely declined.
He was happy just to have them check his mouth every hour now.  Yay, he can have a little more sleep.
This will be for 24 hours and then it will go down to every 2 hours.
He is still in ICU but doesn't need to be there (there's no beds in the ward available).
I'm happy to have him there as it is a little quieter that in the wards and he still has the 1-on-1 attention that I think he deserves.
So, the plan for tomorrow .... he's to get out of bed and sit in a chair, hopefully off to a ward and the Speech Pathologist will be coming in to check out his trachy and get the ole bugger talking again!
Until then ..
Barb xx