We just got back from Johns' Hopkins. This time, Ernie returned with one less reminder of his surgery.
Our first stop was the nurse's office--she was assigned to remove the drain from his neck. I had been "stripping" the drain tube of all the fluids twice per day and measuring and logging the output. Once the output drops to less than 24 ml per day, the drain can come out. It is not a particularly glamorous job but I didn't mind that much. Anyway, I brought the last 12 hours worth of output so she could see the color and check my work--didn't want her to take the drain out before it was ready. Well, you would have thought I was handing her krptonite! She was like "yuck--I don't want to see that". Her reaction certainly made me feel more confident about my budding nursing skills.
The doctor then came in and admired his handiwork and answered all of our questions. We learned that the swelling in Ernie's face and neck could take weeks to go away but it will. He is also experiencing numbness on the left side of his face, including his ear. The area of numbness will decrease over time but he will always have some numbness, especially around the incision. Likewise, his range of motion in his left arm will be permanently reduced but can be improved with PT. The best news is that he can start playing golf in a month--sooner than we thought--and will get to claim that he has some functional deficit. (He really said that Ernie will have "very little functional deficit".) Ernie is allowed to drive as long as he is off the narcotics (he is) and can turn his head enough to see the blind spots (this may take some PT). Finally, he can not lift over 10 pounds for two weeks, then no restrictions. All in all, an excellent outcome.
The staples are still in place and will need to stay for another two to three weeks. However, the doc was fine with having Ernie's local otolaryngologist remove them. So, we are going to stay until Thursday or Friday to let Ernie get his strength back and then head home early!
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