Breathing easier. Here is the latest report from my sister Tammy:
So Dad was in surgery for about an hour and a half last night, not counting the prep and post-op monitoring time. Dad stayed stable throughout the procedure, with never any heart or oxygen problems. They were able to get the spleen out very well, apparently, and got him cleaned up inside. They were even able to collect the ~2 liters of blood that was in his abdominal cavity and give Dad those red cells back again using a "cell saver." Amazing.
We talked to Dad's surgeon, Dr. Prabahakar, this morning. He says that Dad is conscious (though groggy from meds) and doing well, if--not surprisingly--uncomfortable. He does have a little fluid build-up in the lungs, but that is not surprising either, and they are working on getting the fluid out. His blood pressure is high right now, but, as Dr. Prabahakar says, that's a good problem to have under the circumstances.
Dad is in St. Anthony's critical care unit at the moment, in room 14. They have very limited visiting hours there--presumably so that patients are not exhausted by the visits of throngs of well-meaning friends and family--so we have not seen him yet this morning, though we did see him last night before we came home. We couldn't talk to him then because they kept him sedated all night.