I woke up around 6:20 (alarm went off at 5:30), and showered, packed and headed for MGH. I got in by 8:00am. Jeff was still sort of asleep. I came in and put my bag down and talked to Dad, and as we were talking, my purse fell off the chair and a can of soda fell out. Jeff woke up asking what happened. “Was that a can of soda? I thought I heard a can of soda fall.” I said “Sorry, my bag fell off the chair.” “Was it a can of soda,” he asked again. “Yes, Jeff, a soda fell out of my bag.” The kid doesn’t miss a beat.
I stayed in the room while he continued to sleep, and Dad went out to wash up and change—Mom was still asleep in the pull-out chair in the waiting room. Mom came in probably a half hour later and Jeff had woken up. Kim, his nurse, came in and told him she could take out his catheter and his arterial line. He was very relieved to have that cath out!
Shortly after his physical therapist, Denise, came in to check on him. She asked what he thought about getting out of bed and maybe going to the bathroom. He said ok.
He sat up, steadied himself and stood up on his own! Once he was up, he asked if he had to go right to the bathroom- and Kim said, no he could go for a walk first. So he went out of his room to the right and walked around the whole perimeter of the floor! He had me bring my camera and take pictures of him walking around. After we got around, Denis asked if he wanted to go again. He said sure. Denise suggested that they go the other way that time- that she likes to “unwind” after winding. He did the other loop and we stopped half way to get my dad and show him that Jeff was already up and walking.
When he got back to the room he sat in his chair to eat some breakfast. He didn’t manage to get down more than a few bites of plain bagel, but it was something. Spent the rest of the morning in his chair.
Kim came in later that morning saying she was going to change the dressing on the drain on the right front of his head. I was about to go downstairs to pick up coffee- and batteries for my camera, when she came in… and he says to me (realizing that I’m about to leave) “you’re going to miss all the good shots!” (meaning pictures of his wounds). I told him that my batteries were dead and I had to run for batteries and I could take whatever pictures he wanted as soon as I got back. He was ok with that. It was just funny. He really wants to see what he looks like and what he’s missing. (Later when Kim came back, I did take a few pictures of the back of his head, bandaged, and the front as she was changing the dressing)
Dr. Curry also came in and did some more tests. Jeff did all of them perfectly. Jeff wanted a few pictures with him so I took a shot of them talking, and also of Jeff, Dr. Curry and Kim.
Kim came back to give him another walk later. After the first lap she asked if he wanted to go back to his room- and he said no. She asked which way he wanted to go and he said “I want to unwind”- it took her a minute, but then she too remembered how Denise likes to wind and then unwind. This time we did a longer loop though, and went out towards the elevators and over towards White/Bigelow. He walked down the hall looking at everything out both sets of windows- making us move if we were blocking his view J. Then we went back through the waiting area. He wanted to see where all of us had been hanging out that week.
When he got back to the room around noon, he went into the bathroom to pee. Nothing at first, but with Kim threatening to put the catheter back in if he didn’t go by 3:00, he managed to get it out!
After that it was time for lunch. He managed a decent amount of mashed potatoes and ginger ale, which was more than we expected. He tortured Melissa the whole time telling her that she didn’t know how to spoon-feed him. I think he was having fun just busting her balls.
Not too long after, Mom and Dad came in and he vomited. Up came the lunch. I don’t think it hurt quite as badly as he expected but I think it still felt like a set back. His stomach was hurting, so they gave him some anti-nausea medicine, which made him sleepy, and he stayed that way for the rest of the afternoon.
Around 2:00 or 2:30 Dr. Curry came up to talk with us about the results of the MRI. Not such great news this time. They didn’t get the whole thing in surgery and he’d have to go back in for surgery, probably Friday morning. Because the operation had to begin with puncturing that cist, the tumor shifted and because it is very similar in color to that area of the brain it is not as easy to detect.
It was such a disappointment. We were all fairly confident with what we heard the first time and because Jeff was doing so well all day, we were all relieved. Well, all except Mom. She had a feeling about it, not a good feeling- and was anxiously awaiting the results of that MRI.
Dr. Curry and Dad went in to tell Jeff the news. He was still groggy and in and out of sleep but he heard and understood them. And he wasn’t too happy about it, but he knew it had to be done.
We spent much of the afternoon in the waiting room. I took a 45 minute nap, and Pat wandered around absorbing the news, I think. Jeff was mostly asleep and didn’t want to talk. They kept him fairly high on pain meds so that he’d sleep the day away. It was better that way- he’d waited from Monday to Wednesday for surgery the first time, he didn’t need to spend another whole day waiting.
Theresa and George came by that night to check on me. They stayed for about 20 minutes just listening to the latest of what was going on and asking if needed anything. Really nice of them.
Patrick, Kevin and Doug were here most of Thursday evening. Debbie & Jack stopped by with dinner—they had to drop Aunt Florence off for a sleep study over on Bigelow 12 that night. We all hung out in the lounge and talked.
I also got a call that night from Stephanie Murray. Her mom was keeping her updated on what was going on, but she wanted to call herself and tell me they were thinking about him and praying for him. I gave her the full update on him and she told me a little of what was going on with her (they bought a house in French’s Crossing)… it was nice hearing from her.
Thursday night Dad went home and Mom and I stayed. John Murphy ordered a cot to be set up in the Consultation Room across from the waiting room. Mom went to bed around 10:30 while I came into Jeff’s room. I did manage to get some sleep on and off… getting up when his IV drips ended and the alarms went off, or when he wanted ice or water or something like that. Deb was his nurse that night and she was great.
Around 1:15 he blew out his IV line and Deb had to fix it to give him some more morphine. She couldn’t get it back in, so another nurse came in and did it. But that whole process took about 30-45 minutes so he and I were up for awhile with that going on. Mom came in as that was winding down and we switched off.
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