Fluctuations

To tell you that I am a little miffed at not being to update my blog for the last couple of days is an understatement. The road to health can have its bumps especially when there are other people involved. In this case, it was a nurse overeager to demonstrate her prowess in front of a trainee at changing the dressing for my wound vac which resulted in me being miserable for two days.

Long story short: It was "installed" on my person incorrectly. The negative pressure fluctuated incessantly. The only way the beeping and alerts would quiet down was when I was laying down horizontally on my bed. This was even after they came back a second time to tweak the hose connections the following day. Another nurse changed it properly on the third day thank God! The best news out of this whole ordeal is that my wound is healing very well.

Anyhoo... After a phone convo to firm up a visit from Possum last Thursday, she had remarked that I was the busiest and most sociable sick person she new. Ha! Last weekend Kimmee and Kathy each visited me. On Tuesday, I bribed Tawny into sneaking me out for a spell. We started with a seafood lunch at a favorite Greek place followed by manicures and pedicures at my salon where I received a warm welcome for coming back from surgery.

Next Tuesday I am getting a drastic hair cut; it will be short in the back to follow a long angle towards the front. A reverse bob or something like that....? I'll post a picture when I do one of my self-portrait pics. A tinge of sadness creeps in every now and again as I think of how long it is now and how patient I've been at growing it the last couple of years. This act is to both cut away "old energy" from the new woman I am becoming as well as to prepare for what might be a by-product of chemotherapy treatments, hair loss. It isn't something to be really sad about considering the state of the world. I think the new "do" will be a hot look on Sprinkles. After all, why be boring? Other people (IE numb, faceless plebeians) have it covered...

My dad and stepmother were supposed to visit at the end of this month. They had planned on visiting me and my three other sisters on the way down from Chicago. All is now postponed as my stepmother is getting breast cancer surgery on Monday. She has a small lump that is stage one and will have to receive radiation treatments. Freakish isn't it? Cancer is prevalent in most people's lives nowadays. That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.

On a much lighter note, here is a photo of my pedicure. I live in Florida where a bit of floral whimsy is expected on nails. Yes, that is a viable reason! This cheered me considerably and makes me giggle every time I see it. The feet may not be dainty -- how can US size 10 cement blocks be sexy? -- but I think they are still cute!



Kisses,
Sprinkles
.

Fluctuations

More Than One Vacuum

My surgery was about three weeks ago. It feels like four. My weekend visitors especially Kathy today had to remind me of how far I have come since that day and the week before the surgery when I could barely breathe...

The past two weeks has me at my aunts where I am being taking care of with kid gloves and being fed mostly Filipino food, a fact that brings me endless smiles. It sounds great, but it is not all great when you're used to having your own independence to do whatever you normally do. I am not allowed to drive so Tawny gets to drive my car when she's not hustling me to and from the hospital for appointments.

Last Sunday night, I developed a fever which was a response to an infection I had developed in my lower set of stitches. I had no choice but to call the hospital around midnight. The on-call gyno doctor was a bitch and disrespectful. I did take her advice, but did not call her back. Instead I waited until normal hospital hours and called to explain what happened including dealing with bitchy gyno. I was scheduled for blood work and an afternoon appointment the same day. My normal stellar care resumed itself and apologies for bitchy on-call doc were issued several times.

A nurse practitioner who worked under my surgeon saw to me and decided to take out my stitches. The first five-inch row were pinchy while the rest of the six inches were extremely painful that I carried on loudly while trying valiantly not to use the curse words that were fighting to be screamed. Tawny let me crush her fingers as I cried and tried to focus on her and her voice to lessen the pain. I wasn't armed with pain meds since I received a scolding from the on-call gyno for taking them round the clock instead of as needed. My nurse was not happy. She almost admitted me but there were no beds available. I did not feel bad enough to be admitted. New antibiotics were prescribed before we left.

Irma, a social worker, came to see me in the exam room to arrange for a home health nurse to visit my aunt's home three times a week to change the bandages/sponges for my new wound vac. It's like a Hoover for your wound. Because of the infection, my wound had not all sealed so it was gaping when it was not stuffed with gauze, etc. Different sponges are inserted in the wound site, followed by double-sided sticky cling film layered around the perimeter (simulating skin) and on top of the wound. A slit is cut to put a round plastic attached to a hose that would go over my wound followed by more sticky cling film. Another hose connected to a canister and battery pack is attached to the hose on my body. I carry this everywhere I go and make sure it is charged. Once it is switched on, it begins to suck the sponges sticking out back towards inside my wound where it will wick any drainage to the canister. Taking the dressing off and putting back on is a bit painful. All this trouble is supposed to heal my wound 50% faster. It is worth it in the end.

Tawny took me back for a follow up two days later - last Wednesday - to see my surgeon who pronounced my wound healing nicely. Our hospital visit was 1000% better than the two days prior. I sang in the exam room while waiting to see him. I won't see him again until February 12th. I was also switched from Percoset to oxycodone, a gentler but stronger pain medication not containing acetaminophen to injure my liver. The thing about these narcotics is that it is imperative to take stool softeners and with my wound near that area still healing, I have no choice. I know -- not glamorous at all! Sprinklesville is not as effervescent and scintillating these days I'm afraid.

Remember when I told you about my swollen ankles? They are no longer swollen -- they are half the size. They are rather sexy and shapely, I might say. I've lost 35 pounds since the surgery. The alien was large and I was carrying around that much extra liquid bloating. Of course, my appetite isn't grand, so that contributes, too. I halfway do not recognize the woman I see in the mirror. As the days pass, I am having to come to grips with the new life I will have especially after chemo treatment which I hope to have completed by June/July. My surgeon is not discussing this until my wound heals to his satisfaction. Just as well. The days are appearing seamless but I try not to get sucked in that kind of vacuum. I try to recognize each day for its own. Meanwhile, I am resting and receiving visitors.

Kisses,
Sarah xo
.

More Than One Vacuum