Cancer Files: Recovery Continues

I got home from yesterday's adventures at the Wound Clinic and certainly didn't feel like sitting down and typing about the whole experience.  But then I remembered, I left everyone in my last post saying that I would. I sat down and tried, to no avail.  So, tonight I will give everyone a catch up...

The curious girl in me looked up "wound vac" on YouTube and yes, watched a video of the installation.  It was helpful to know what to expect and I like to be prepared mentally.  It started on Tuesday when I went into my check up with the plastic surgeon.  He took one look at the abdominal wound and said he was sending me to the wound clinic to put in a wound vac.  He (like my husband here at home) said that this healing process is not progressing like he would like to see.  He did a little snipping and a little poking around and then sent me on my way.

Once at the wound clinic I was told that they were working with the insurance to make sure that it would be covered before they put it in since each day I have it will be very expensive (so expensive in fact, that the nurse wouldn't give us a figure).  They got me all registered and typed in all of my information before the doctor came in.  Just hearing him say "Oh yeah, this will heal up quick with the vac in place" made that little glimmer of hope reappear.  Unfortunately, they couldn't confirm the coverage for Tuesday so they again packed my wound full of gauze and sent me home.

Fast forward to Wednesday at 2 o'clock.  I am back at the wound clinic approved by insurance to put it in and get the healing jump started!  It is amazing what it does (tonight when my husband got home from his trip to Des Moines for a conference he was relieved to see it doing its thing).  They put a piece of foam into the wound and seal the area.  There is a tube that is inserted into the foam and when the vac is turned on it sucks all of the air and moisture out of the area.  It keeps the wound together and gives it a much better chance to stay clear of infection.  They said a 8-10 week healing time can be reduced to 2 1/2 - 3 weeks.  I am looking forward to reporting they were right!

Hopefully my picture won't gross anyone out, the kids think it is cool!  They put an extra piece of foam coming from the wound and attached the tubing a little farther away from the hole so it wouldn't cause any irritation.  The wound itself is the part along the bottom.  The picture is after the vacuum had started the suction.

I am looking forward to going in tomorrow and hearing the measurements.  I will get a new set of foam and tubing tomorrow.  In the meantime I carry this little pack around with me that if you listen very carefully at times sounds like I had too many beans for dinner!  It makes my boys giggle so it is all good!

She is Back in the Kitchen...at Least For Today

There is so much to catch up on with my recovery process, but that will have to wait until tomorrow...for today, I took two pain pills and made supper from scratch!  It felt great to be in my newly updated kitchen opening cans, browning and saute-ing as well as mixing up some yummy garlic butter to bake onto a loaf of french bread.

I haven't been very in tuned to what is in my pantry, not being in the food making mode lately so I made a spaghetti from scratch with what I could find here at the house.  It worked out well and tasted pretty good.  Every once in awhile I get to do a little thing here or there that reminds me of my "normal".  Tonight was a good night after a pretty intense afternoon.

But more about that tomorrow...

But They Need Leotards!

Dawn had a dilemma.  She and Stacey love to set up their room with all kinds of things to play with their American Girl dolls (a lot of it is made from things here around the house).  Because Dawn has become a gymnast over the past year, the American Girl gymnastics set seemed like the perfect gift for her birthday.  What is the dilemma you ask?  Well, the dolls didn't have leotards to wear!

Being the creative quick-thinker that she is, she remembered the old socks that she had in the bottom of her sock drawer.  You know, the ones I have said over and over "you need to go through this sock drawer and get rid of all of the socks that are too little for you so you have room for the ones you do wear!"

Well, not listening to Mom paid off in this small way today as she found out if you cut four holes strategically in those "too small" socks, the girls (dolls) will have leotards and now they can use the new gymnastics equipment.  I thought it was a pretty brilliant idea, once again from the mind of my little innovator!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Three people in our house turned 11 today!  A triple birthday happens every year on this day and you would think by now that I would be used to that!  It sneaks up on me every year!  This year has been crazy on top of all of that because of the house being on the market and me recovering.

The morning started with presents on the table (unwrapped because all of my wrapping paper is packed away).  There was excitement and great appreciation for what they found in the boxes.  After that was my yearly trek to Hy Vee to find the cupcakes needed to supply every 5th grader in their elementary school a birthday treat.  This year, the magic number is 88.  Much to my extreme excitement they were having a cupcake sale!  There were plenty left after I bought my 88 - how did they know?  Maybe it was last year's experience when I left only ONE, yes, ONE cupcake left after I bought the rest of them to celebrate in 4th grade on September 13th!

Much to everyone's excitement my trip also produced a box of donuts for birthday breakfast!

Cancer Files: A New Recovery Protocol

For the last couple of days, my husband has noticed three different areas in my incisions that don't seem to be healing.  In fact, last night, there was a gaping hole.  Because I haven't been feeling the best the last couple of days either, we were a little concern that somewhere there was an infection.  Thankfully, there was a doctor's appointment scheduled for today so we could get the doctors thoughts on the situation.

First he wanted to reassure us that this happens occasionally and it will take weeks to heal, it is what they call "delayed healing".  My thoughts were "hasn't this already taken WEEKS?"  Patience, Jody, Patience.  It is really annoying to STILL not be able to do even the most basic things for my family.  But, getting well is a bigger job than I originally thought.  And now, there are a few more things to do in my day.

These strips that have been soaked in a bleach substance are to be packed into the three gaping places and dressed with gauze twice daily.  Well, at least it gives me something else to do while I am laying around!  The doctor also gave me a twice a day dose of antibiotic to ward off any infection.

He said that nothing is infected right now but we don't want anything to come up so we will take precaution.  What I am worried about the most is whether or not there will be bleach spots on Mom's van carpet since when we got back from lunch, the bag had tipped and some of the solution had leaked out!

Doctor asked all kinds of questions about how I was feeling, achy, headache, nauseous?  Yes, yes and yes.  David asked when he got home "did you tell him you did all the laundry in the past couple days, cooked, cleaned up the bathroom, swept the floor and changed the sheets out on your bed?"  Yeah, I got his drift, he had already lectured me on not overdoing it.  So, I will back down again and give myself a little more healing time.  I am doing a new "sitting in my recliner" project that I am a little excited about so maybe that will keep my mind in creative mode.  Meanwhile, I have to get these kids to pick up after themselves more consistently!  They go off to school each day but I get to hang out here and I am tired of staring at their MESS!

Someone Has Turned FOUR!

Someone is having a birthday today!  Someone who has turned out to be NOTHING like the tiny newborn baby I first met four years ago today.  The baby I held for the first time back then was extremely sensitive to loud noises, bright lights and anything else that was different from the environment from where he had come.  At one point I had to politely tell his nurse to just hand him to me.  She was making derogatory comments about the fact that he cried non-stop.

I giggle about the over-sensitiveness of this newborn as I listen to he and his siblings in the basement playing with his new bike.  The bell is ringing non-stop and the laughing and shouting coming from down there is so much louder than anything I heard in that delivery room back in 2009.  No, this boy is a handful!  A very happy handful!

So how did he spend his day?  Well, woke up before his mom and had his new bike down in the basement riding it before I even got to see him!  I was glad because he really likes it!  Anything that makes him feel big like everyone else is good!  After that we got home from getting his big brother to school and the first thing he asked is "can I have a piece of gum"?  When this boy was two he saw his brothers and sisters chewing gum and asked his mom if he could have some.  Of course in an attempt to put him off she answered "you can't chew gum until you are four".  He remembered, and that is what he wanted to do, chew a piece of gum!  He did surprisingly good.  He chewed on it for about an hour and a half and then spit it in the garbage can.  We might just try another piece tomorrow.

He spent some time at his favorite babysitter's house while Mom and I went to my doctor appointment and while we were out we stopped and picked up a little something that he had begged and begged me to get for him on Monday.  I gave it to him to surprise him when we got home and he loved his Mario, Luigi and Peach racecars.  Then, the FedX truck came.  With a big box...filled with what I ordered along with PACKING PEANUTS!

You bet he took his cars and jumped right in...played for a good half an hour!  All and all it has been a good 4th birthday for this little man.  And yes, he has already asked "Mom, when am I going to be 4 1/2?"  Whoa young man!  You can't be 4 1/2 til mommy says!

Fancy Toes!

I have not had polish on my toes since July 2nd.  I like to have pedicures through the summer months and have "fancy toes" as the girls used to call them when they were little.

Because there were two surgeries and recovery time this past summer, I haven't spent the money just to have to take the polish off for the day of the surgeries.  Talking to a couple of friends this past weekend we thought about getting together and meeting for a pedicure but our schedules just wouldn't allow it.  So, maybe next weekend will work, we will have to see.

For now though, I got out my favorite polish and kicked the foot rest up on my recliner.  I found out that I could pull my foot up into my lap and reach my toes for the first time since surgery so I went ahead and did a quick paint job on my toe nails.  It is amazing what a fresh coat of polish can do to your outlook!  I am thankful for the little things!