HOME...at last!!!

Most of you already know about Jarods' latest surgery, but for those of you not on FB, here's a brief summary. Jarod, Lindsey and I flew to Indianapolis on June 29. After settling into the Embassy Suites (right in downtown Indy), we changed clothes, freshened up and walked to St. Elmos for a wonderful "last supper" as Jarod put it. This restaurant was amazing and I would highly recommend it if you're ever in Indy. We were all under the impression Jarod wouldn't be able to eat much on Wed. night before surgery, so wanted to make sure he got a good meal. The city is really cool, very clean and where we stayed was within 1.5 miles of the hospital and there was pretty much everything you would need within just a few blocks of the hotel.

On Wednesday, we walked to the canal and enjoyed the scenery. We ended up eating lunch right on the canal in a cute little restaurant before walking over to the IU campus to meet with Dr. Beck at 2:00. We met with him (surgeon) and he explained in detail what the RPLND surgery would entail as well as drawing a diagram to show us. We all liked him a lot and felt that Jarod was in very capable hands. The surgery was on Thursday morning and went pretty well. After the surgery, but before Jarod was awake from anesthesia, the anesthesiologist gave him an intrathecal epidural which was to help with the pain for the first 12 hours. It took her 4 tries to get it into the spine, so needless to say when it wore off, not only was he in a lot of post surgical pain, but his back was really sore from that...poor guy. Lindseys' Mom arrived about an hour before surgery was over and stayed at the hospital with us the rest of the day. Jarod was finally put into a room about 6:00 that night. It was decided that I would stay at the hospital with Jarod as Lindsey wasn't sure she could handle seeing him in pain. So after staying with him for a short time, Linds and her Mom headed back to the hotel to get some much needed rest. Jarod wasn't in a private room the first night, so I headed down the hallway to find a bathroom to change into shorts and a tshirt so that I could settle in for the night. The cleaning crew "caught me with my pants down" as my niece would say...but it gave me a good laugh! Not sure they knew what the heck was going on. It was a really long night as Jarods' epidural wore off and he was in a lot of pain...needless to say, there was no sleep that night.

Janice (Lindseys' Mom) brought Linds to the hospital Fri am and took me back to the hotel to get some rest. I had just settled into bed and was almost asleep and all of a sudden the smoke alarms started going off...so after figuring out what it was, I called the front desk and they said someone would come right up...15 minutes later and no help arrived and the damn thing was going off again. I called the front desk and was frantic at this point wondering if there really was a fire...they said someone came up to check but since I had the Do Not Disturb Sign on the door, they didn't come in...REALLY, I mean come on people. So anyhow they finally came to the room, figured out the battery was low on the smoke alarm and changed it for me. I had gone back to bed at this point and again, just as I was drifting off, I heard a ringing (thought I'd turned the ringer on my phone off) and thinking it may be an emergency at the hospital and not having my contacts in to see caller ID, I answered the phone. I'm pretty sure it was Tom (Cleos' brother) but I don't remember much about that conversation...LOL...just remember Tom, paybacks are HELL!!!

Jarod was moved to a private room on Friday and it was decided that I would just continue to stay with him during the nights. I feel pretty comfortable in a hospital setting after working in the medical field for so long and Lindsey really needed to try to get rest. She has a long haul ahead once they get home. On Saturday, Jarod really wanted to watch Chris pitch (he plays for the Brewers), but we kept telling him that it was on the MLB channel and the hospital only had basic cable. Well, he was convinced that if I got up on a chair and "messed with" the cables that he would be able to get that channel (man IV pain meds are good stuff..haha) so at this point we would've done anything for the kid, so I pulled a chair over near the tv and proceeded to "fix the cable"...Linds and I were laughing so hard and Jarod was oblivious! Well, after about 10 minutes we finally convinced Jarod that he would not be able to watch Chris play...he was so disappointed.

Jarod has had a hard time with pain control and is still not able to keep anything but mostly liquids down, but he was released on Monday. We heard from the dr. on Tuesday morning that both tumors were benign, necrotic tissue...no more chemo!!!! If you read Lindseys' blog (jarodandlindsey.blogspot.com) there are many more details about the surgery, etc. so I'm not going to repeat all that---you can read for yourselves.

I flew home Tuesday night and after sleeping for 12 straight hours last night, I'm trying to play catch up with laundry, unpacking, paying bills, etc. before picking Jarod and Lindsey up at the airport tomorrow afternoon. I know they are both very anxious to get home and for Jarod to feel better. His healing process may take awhile, but at least he is cancer free and the chemo is behind him. We are so grateful as a family for all your prayers, thoughts and concerns over these past 4 months. Jarod and Linds aren't done with this process yet, but the end is in sight now.
Lindsey and Jarod sitting on a bench by the canal

Mama and Jarod on the canal

View looking down the canal...it was so pretty!

A cool mural under a bridge on the canal