Follow-Up #1

Today was Deb's first follow-up appointment with one of her surgeons. Today it was the plastic surgeon, and we had hopes that he would be removing at least one of Deb's drains, but it wasn't to be. Actually, I'm not sure he had ever intended to do it today in the first place.

The doctor had been in surgery and had called his office to let them know that the surgery had started late, so he would be running behind. He only ended up being about fifteen minutes late, but it gave me fifteen minutes to lightly doze off on the sofa in the waiting room (we were the only ones there). They took us back and he removed the dressing for the first time since the surgery. Everything looked OK to him, so he wrapped her back up, gave us directions on rewrapping her dressing in the future (and some ideas on what to use), and told us to call on Thursday morning for an appointment on Thursday. That doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to arrange for taking time off of work on Thursday, but you do what you gotta do, I guess.

The best news from Deb's point of view is that she's now allowed to take a shower (which is also good news for the sponge bath giver - me).

Tomorrow morning is Deb's appointment with the other surgeon. So what we're going to end up with is an appointment on three consecutive days this week. Good thing the people at my work are understanding about all this, but both Deb and I think that I should be there with her at these appointments. I just wish my work was closer to town (one-half hour each way).

On the over-all recovery front, Deb continues to show improvement. She's cut back a good bit on the painkillers, so her thinking is clearer and she's awake more. She decided to test the limits of her energy level today, and she found them. We stopped at the grocery store after her appointment, which included a lot of walking around. When we got home our landscaping guys wanted to ask her some veterinary advice questions, so she stayed out there talking with them for at least fifteen minutes (I was at least able to direct her to some shade while she was out there). She also got involved in fixing dinner and did some other things around the house, but now she's worn out and back in position on the sofa. I could have predicted that ... and did.

So a good day. Let's hope they continue to be good going forward.