Hey guys, first off I want to point out what it does to someone’s mood to drift in and out of sleep and see such a strong support system. Thank you to everyone in my myositis groups, my friends and family for taking the time to just say hey or wish me well.

So I had the surgery yesterday morning and I’ve been meeting with a parade of specialists ever since. There is still a bit of confusion on when my discharge will be because it is difficult to gauge my recovery through the lens of my underlying disorder. Some doctors have said several weeks, some have said 48 hours. It really just depends on how I’m looking especially over the next day, but it looks like I will be home much sooner than I anticipated. I have to wait for a consult from physical and occupational therapy to determine whether I will be sent to be an inpatient at Lawrence Memorial Hospital for pulmonary and physical rehab. If that does not happen then I will head home and my therapy at LMH will be done via outpatient.

Since getting to my room yesterday I had a rough go with recovery, although they tell me that I’m moving at a great pace. My procedure was done laparoscopically, and I learned that when this robotic procedure is performed the surgeon has to inflate the cavity with CO2 in order to spread the organs and see better. Because of where the adrenal gland is located, there is a lot of moving of organs involved, and so there can be some trauma and damage to many other systems. The combination of this trauma to other organs, especially my diaphragm, and the CO2 still present has been causing some pretty excruciating pain. The CO2 makes breathing difficult..imagine being bloated with a bunch of air. The only way to get rid of it really is movement which, well, hurts. I did take two short walks with a walker, both of which were tough but impressive for the doctors. There is photographic evidence but…nah 😉

I am writing this now in my room, just going through the cycle of doctors, medicine and right now watching my Jayhawks play some football. I miss being able to go to the stadium, but it is days like this that are a step toward doing that again.

To all of you that are watching, praying and thinking about me, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.