Oh, they will be removed by the doctor, when they are empty. They are called On Q balls, and they continuously feed the nerve block medicine, but at a lower dose than they used for the surgery. They are a little bigger than softballs, each of them, and they will shrink and shrivel up as the medicine is used. Should take about 5 or so days, they said. So then they make the determination whether to start again with new ones or just continue with the pain pills alone, if his pain is to the point it will be manageable with just the pills, they will remove the tubes.
He is hooked up to these balls, wrapped up with straps on the sling, straps for the ice pump pad, so getting him up is a major undertaking, but he is doing well at getting up and walking around.
He finally slept last night, a few hours. Hopefully he can get a little more sleep once the kiddos are off to school.