Nick's Surgery

Thank you to so many of you for praying for Nick's surgery today... and also for all of your e-mails, phone calls, and texts.  We arrived at the hospital around noon, Nick went into pre-op around 1:15, his surgery lasted from 3 to 5, and he was in recovery until about 7.  I didn't get to see him until after he came out of recovery, so I was just chilling in the waiting room for about 5 hours.  It was a really strange feeling - kind of scary - when I knew that Nick was actually in the surgery.  I hadn't been worried until that moment, knowing that it was all completely out of my control.
  

Pre-surgery "johnny" hotness:

 

The doctor came down and talked to me after the surgery, and said that Nick had a "large disc protrusion" that was pressing against the nerve, and that he was able to remove it.  He also said he was doing fine.  I had to wait a few hours while they closed out the surgery and Nick was in recovery (I wish I had gotten to see him when he was loopy/in recovery, because that would have made for some funny moments, but alas, I did not).  

I finally got to come up to see Nick around 7, and was honestly kind of shocked by all the tubes and at how serious things looked.  He has tubes for oxygen and tubes for the pain meds and things on his legs that help with circulation and let off a "hiss hiss" sound every few minutes.  We're not sure if everything "worked" in terms of the sciatic nerve because he's still on pain meds, but we're very hopeful.  Our biggest fear is that it doesn't work - simply because we won't know what to do about the pain if it doesn't.  

Post-surgery "tubey" hotness

I just learned that I won't get to spend the night at the hospital with Nick after all, which is a really big bummer.  So, I'll probably head up to my apt. around 9:30 or so and come back tomorrow morning.  The nurse (who is very nice!) said that he would be here until sometime in the afternoon. 

Please do keep praying for Nick's recovery.  Seeing him makes me worried that it might be rougher than we thought, but then again he's just out of surgery.  And pray for little girl Smith to arrive at just the right time (which is hopefully not tonight! yikes!).  God is good, He is in control, and we trust in Him.