lawnrrd | Post-Surgery Update

There's an old urban legend about a guy on vacation in Thailand, who goes out partying one night, blacks out, and comes to later in his hotel room, having no memory of what happened or how he got there. As he lies there, he starts to notice some pain, reaches down, and his hand comes up covered in blood. It turns out that he was drugged and that his kidney has been stolen for the black market.

If that man had been wearing pajamas at that moment, those pajamas might very well have resembled the pajamas that Leo woke up in yesterday morning.

He slept much later than we had expected but eventually woke up, and we heard him on the baby monitor. The dressing covers his entire back, but blood had oozed from the top and left side, saturating his pajamas. Now, don't get me wrong: he was smiling and gurgling happily. But he was a bloody mess.

That first day, we gave him Tylenol with codeine drops every four hours for the pain. He was naturally a little subdued, but mostly his happy self, except in moments when he noticed the pain. The drops seem to taste bad, so we were constantly worried that he might not be getting enough.

Today we switched to Tylenol without codeine drops, and they seem to do the trick, mostly. He still gets uncomfortable and cranky sometimes. The bleeding seems to have stopped, which is good, because he can't possibly have that much to spare. He's also more tired than usual, which doesn't surprise us. He hasn't really tried to roll over, possibly out of the pain. His schedule is also a little screwed up, what with all the waking at sleeping at odd hours.

There were some awkward moments this afternoon, though, when five days' constipation spontaneously resolved. We can't bathe him, unfortunately. I have nothing more to say about this subject.

The next visit to the doctor is Monday morning, when the surgeon will change Leo's dressings and see how things are healing.

As for Lauren and me, we're tired and drained, but pleased that things seem to be going as well as can be expected. More later.

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes. We appreciate them.