Home again, home again

It's all done! The surgery went well, and Dr. Zacher removed Dan's gallbladder (which was inflamed to about twice the size of a normal gallbladder) and an almost golf-ball sized gallstone. He ended up staying overnight because of all the delays (he was originally scheduled for 2:45, then when we checked in they said 3:30, but they didn't take him back till 5:00!) where he discovered, to his delight, that jello is allowed on a clear liquid diet and that the hospital has a never ending supply available 24 hours a day! I felt so bad for him because the highlights of his day Thursday were that he got half a cup of water and some ice half an hour before surgery, and that he could have jello. Just to kind of reference what kind of day Thursday was. One bummer was that since Dan was in a semi-private room and he had a roommate, I wasn't allowed to stay overnight with him. The nurse told me that she could set up one of those hospital chairs that pull out to make a cot for me in the lobby area, or I could stay till midnight. Normally I would have been there, but Nate was not a happy camper that day. I don't know if he was concerned for Daddy, or if he was upset that he wasn't getting the attention or if he had no motivation what-so-ever and it was just a hard day. So, I headed home, avoiding the detours that the storm had caused (2 flooded streets and no less than 4 traffic lights out) and passed out in my own bed.
When I got back yesterday morning, Dan had progressed to a full liquid diet and was about to order his breakfast-cream of wheat, a fruit smoothie, hot chocolate, jello, Italian ice, strawberry mouse and orange juice. Not exactly what I would call "well-balanced" but it was much better than the lunch fiasco. Apparently we were overly ambitious in getting him started on a soft diet. The mashed potatoes were too much for him to handle, and after he got sick, he got the hiccups. Normally that wouldn't be an issue, but when you've just had an abdominal surgery and you have 4 fresh incisions, each hiccup generates enough pain to almost make a grown man cry. Trust me, I've seen it first hand. And he started asking for more pain meds after about an hour and a half (for most people the dose he was getting would have been good for about 3) so we weren't sure if we were in for another overnighter. Luckily, he started feeling better. He got up and we went on a couple short walks (the nurse said that would help more than meds), his hiccups cleared up, he got some more jello, and he was ready to go.
And man, when he was ready, he was ready! He asked for his clothes, had me round up all of our stuff in the room, put on his shoes and called the nurse to let her know he was leaving. She called for a wheelchair to bring him around to the front of the hospital, and he took another walk (pacing is more like it). I guess it took too long because next thing I know, we're standing in the hallway waiting for the wheelchair, then I'm heading down to get the car so that it's right out front as soon as Dan gets downstairs.
Our time at home has been mostly the same as our time in the hospital, except that now he has a much better mattress to lay in while he eats jello, listens to his iPod, and dozes. And I actually caught up on some of my sleep too. Not so much on the housework....but at this point I'd rather have rest than a freshly vacuumed floor!

P.S. for anyone who remembers that I was supposed to have a 3 hour glucose test (since my first was a little high) I got the results back and everything came back normal, so yay! no diabetes!!!