Bypass Surgery Day!

Jim is a rock star!!!

After only 7 hours of surgery, Dr. Spetzler greeted us with a big smile on his face. He said that they were able to harvest a relatively decent artery from Jim's left temple, which was a surprise considering his poor arterial system. He said the bypass was beautiful! He did not choose to clip the basilar artery because he said that there were some scar tissue issues that made it not a good option. So, he is planning to have the artery coiled later this week by Dr. Fiorella. Jim will be awake to make sure that he tolerates the coil, but he expects that he will be able to do so. This is the best Friday the 13th ever! I've found my new lucky number!

Jim was pretty cute this morning. He was very serious and had his game face on. He found us extremely annoying and was very anxious for the whole thing to get going. We had quite a fan club and were busy taking pictures -- much to his chagrin. As you can see,
he wasn't smiling a whole lot. Oh well, I can be stubborn too! The bottom picture is of Jimmy with his Brown Eyed Girls!

When we brought him down to surgery, one of the previous doctors from five years ago greeted us, Dr. Chang. He asked if we remembered him, which we definitely did as he was the one who talked to us after that surgery. He told us that Jim was kind of family and that they were going to take very good care of him. Very comforting words for us! It was easier to leave him this time -- like I said, I just had an underlying feeling of peace and comfort. God was definitely with us, and he didn't let me down!

It was so exciting to see Jim! He was amazingly responsive and was able to move all his arms and legs and was even able to mouth words to us. He mouthed, "I love you" to me, which of course made my night, and he told us to "go out". When Michael promised to take me out on the town, he gave a big smile. Some things never change! He even waved at us as we left the room! So, as soon as I finish this, I am going out for the first time since we got here with a very happy heart! I'm sure that he will likely be in worse shape tomorrow and over the next days, as Dr. Spetzler reminded me that the next few days were very crucial, but today was a nice big step in the right direction of this long and torturous journey. I apologize for being brief, but I wanted to get the news out to all of you as quickly as I could, and I really want to go celebrate with my family. I promise to probably have more to tell tomorrow. Thank you SO much for your prayers -- they worked! Please keep up the good work as we're going to need you. I'm sure the road isn't likely to be nice and smooth, so be prepared for some road bumps, but I'm still optimistic that we're all going to come through this with a new and improved Jimmy!

Praise God!
Krissy