...you get a chance to rest.

Glad it went well!

and we all hope the next 48 hours go by without any complications.

On another note about your other thread on care at home. Have you or your wife set up a caringbridge or carepages site where you can post updates to share with family or friends? By just posting what is ahead and what needs to be done sometimes offers come from people you might not have thought of asking.

It can be a 'gentle' way of asking for help from a variety of people, you might be surprised at the acquaintances or more distant family members that could step up to help. It only takes one or two people to make a difference and worth a shot.

Best wishes for a full recovery

What an ordeal and what an amazing operation! So happy to hear it was a success. Hope you are having a celebration somewhere (with or without booze) and allowing yourself to rest and enjoy this moment.

right at the same time two members of the surgeons staff came into her room. They asked how long she was in bed and proceeded to get her out of bed to walk a few steps to a regular chair in order to sit up straight. Seems the surgeon believes in movement and healing and none of his patients are going to lay around in bed for a few days of R&R if he can help it.

Sounds good to me.

They told her she would only be in ICU for one more day and then moved to a regular room. Physical therapy will commence as soon as she is settled in.

She is doing good, which is what counts and the sooner she can come home the better in my book.

THANKS AGAIN,EVERY ONE OF YOU.

A surgery that intense (especially abdominal) can put the body at risk for blood clots that can lead to a pulmonary embolism. Thats why they need her up and moving - to keep any blood clots from forming. Mostly in her legs. They will likely tell you to have her up and walking for 30 seconds to a minute every hour once she is back home. She won't want to (Lord knows I fought it with everything I had), but as arduous (and painful) as it can be, it is really, really important.

She is fortunate to have you there to help her with this.

And many days it was not easy or fun. I also did my best as soon as I got out of bed, to stay out of bed in the lounge chair in the room. Plus walking twice a day back and fourth in the hallway (with my trusty IV pole at my side). Moving as much as possible and as soon as possible makes a huge difference in the healing process. So did the Tootsie pops someone brought me by the way...

The dialudid they had me on was horrific. It made me SO nauseous after a while that I couldn't eat - and you have to eat to take it. Catch 22. After several weeks, I didn't want to move, much less walk. Knowing I needed to eat in order to take another of those blasted pills, I set a goal that I couldn't take a pain pill until I had walked once every hour for 4 hours - then ice cream.

being in bed produces more time in bed. Use whatever is available, physical therapy visits, alternative medicine such as massage that might be available.

This will also make a smoother transition when she comes home ... keep moving!

sitting in bed stuff. The only problem that she's had so far is that they stopped using the dilauda for pain meds and gave her something through her IV tube that didn't really help her with the pain, which I imagine is pretty intense or a 8 on a 10 scale. She didn't sleep very well last night so back on the "d" today helped her a bit. They are working towards a quick kick out of the hospital, but I don't think it's going to be earlier than Friday this week for some reason.

That 30 seconds to a minute every hour makes a lot of sense and I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

just use the drugs needed to get past this period and make sure she has everything needed for home (pain, nausea, sleep meds) when needed.

Just getting home is such a sigh of relief in some ways and challenging in others.

Not sure where the 30 seconds to a minute every hour came from ... but someone who gave you that tip is thanking you

panic attacks. She had two real bad ones after they did her liver embolism and stent install. Hopefully, the docs prescribe a smoother to keep her from over thinking this.

She should be discharged today. In fact as I type this the docs are probably making their rounds prior to surgery and will give her the boot.

the 30 -60 seconds per hour makes sense. if you add up the time it's like 8 minutes of walking every 8 hours on the long side. Even if it's 4 minutes it allows for movement of muscles.

Hopefully by now you are on your way home-such great news that she's being released! Can they perhaps prescribe Xanax for the panic attacks? Also, Marinol (synthetic marijuana pills) may help as well if they will prescribe them for you. I found them very helpful while in the hospital. And, there's a wonderful internet station and also an app - calm.com which I found to be tremendously calming. I put on my headphones, close my eyes, take deep breaths and get lost in the music (also great for meditation).
Keep us posted on how things are going please!

enjoy being home and relax a bit, take it slow and let her build her strength. Hopefully they gave her something to take the edge off if needed.

Little by little and yes small amounts of exercise are great ... and they do add up

In April of 2019 she'll have been cancer free 5 years. Free of a cancer that usually kills quickly. They've even changed the name of it from CholangialCarcenoma to some other thing.

She's walking 10K steps a day, going to the Y and living her life again.

Hopefully it keeps up.

Thanks for posting, I look back and realize just how lucky she was.