Long Time, No Post

I realize my posts have been more sporadic of late, but there hasn't been as much new to mention.  Deb is still recovering and going to her weekly visits with the reconstructive surgeon.  I took her yesterday, in fact.  Previous visits were not too bad, but this one seems to have left her a bit more uncomfortable than usual.  Mostly I think it is because the tissue expander is meeting more resistance as it is expanded further.  Deborah has had to use more of the pain-killers than usual since the visit, but at least they are helping her get some rest.  I hope tomorrow will be better.  I don't foresee her having more than one or two more visits to go through right now, not counting the second surgery to replace the expander.

We're getting closer all the time.

Birthday Wishes

OK, I know I haven't posted for a while, but we have been a bit busy around here. Our house was listed for sale last week, so we've spent a lot of time getting it ready (or mostly ready) and still going through what's going west with us and what isn't. I've done a lot of heavy lifted lately. Deb isn't allowed to lift heavy stuff during her recovery. I've noticed that even some small weights aren't comfortable for her to lift or carry, but that doesn't surprise me.

Deb has been a real trooper so far in her recovery, though. She remains very upbeat throughout the process. The routine lately has been to visit the plastic surgeon on every Tuesday afternoon to have the tissue expander incrementally inflated, and then spend most of Wednesday (and sometimes part of Thursday) recovering from that. This seems to be the biggest source of discomfort for her, but again that doesn't surprise me. The current plan is to continue the "inflation" process for the next few weeks before she reports back to work, and then to wait a couple of months before removing the expander and putting in the permanent (relatively speaking) implant sometime in October.

Today, however, is a special day (as if you couldn't tell from the title of this post). That's right - Deborah turns 29 years old today ... plus a little bit. So far all we've done is work on sorting through the basement while the carpet cleaning guys were here this morning and run to Target with a stop for lunch (at Five Guys - one of Deb's favorites). I think the afternoon plan is for her to take a nice nap on the sofa and then we'll go meet friends for dinner at RouXbarbs, which is another of her favorites.

So now you can wish her a speedy and complete recovery and a happy birthday.

PS: Wanna buy a house? We know of a good one on the market right now ...

Beyond the 4th

I hope you all had a safe and pleasant Fourth of July.  We had a pretty good one here.  Deb continues to show improvement, though she is getting to the point where she can't get get very comfortable at night.  She's tried to wean herself from the major painkillers, and the Tylenol is only having limited effect.  Still, I think she is slowly getting better.

I spent most of the Fourth doing what I've done for the last several days, which is try to go through the house as best I can and decide what to get rid of before we have to move it across the country, and get the house looking as good as I can (by pressure-washing the patio, et cetera).  Deb is less able physically to help with moving stuff around, so she's been going through old magazines to see if there are articles she wants to hang onto.  This is something she can do while seated on the sofa, so that's good.

Dinner last night was provided by Wayne and Sylvia, who provided enough that we can enjoy what was left over again tonight.  Very much appreciated, as has been everything else that folks have brought by.  I can guarantee that none of it is going to waste.

We've started expanding Deb's limits with a few outings.  We went to lunch at RouXbarb on Thursday.  I took her to the grocery store on Friday, with a couple of other minor stops along the way.  Today we went to a cookout over at Jon and Mandy's house for our bike club.  Each trip out has worn her out, but she'd lasting longer each time.  She was able to stay out today for twice as long as I'd figured on.  Also, she drove for a couple of those trips (Friday and today), so definite progress is being made.

It's getting better all the time.  I just hope it continues to do so.

Going, Going, ...

Deb's mom is gone.  We took her back to the airport yesterday morning and she flew back to Nevada.  It was very good having her around during the initial phases of Deb's recovery.  I would have had difficultly doing all of the nursing duties myself and still report to work at all.

Also gone is the second and final surgical drain.  Deb is very, very happy to have it gone, as am I.  It wasn't any fun for any of us to deal with, and it was quite uncomfortable as well for Deb for the two weeks she had it.  Taking it out wasn't exactly comfortable for Deb either.  I know this because I was holding her hand as the doctor was pulling it out and I was worried at first that I'll pull back a tangled mess of broken fingers.  I have regained feeling in most of my fingers now, though.  

While we were there and the doctor had Deb in a prone position on the table, he went ahead and added some saline to the tissue expander (temporary implant).  It's pretty cool how he does part of it.  There's a magnet in the implant at the port he needs to aim for with the saline injection.  He uses another magnet to pinpoint its position under skin and tissue.  Deb said she felt a little like an Ouija Board as he was moving the magnetic indicator around to find the port.  Then came the injection part, which involves a large needle and syringe.  Supposedly the area he goes through with the needle is supposed to still be numb from the surgery, but apparently not entirely.  I think I could actually feel a couple of my knuckles crackling that time.  At least they aren't blue anymore.

I think Deb felt better after the appointment than she'd expected.  She was a little sore from the drain removal and saline addition (100 ml this time), but not as much as she'd expected.  I just smiled and kept my mouth shut.

Overnight the pain hit her harder than she'd prepared for, which is what I knew was coming.  The painkillers weren't doing enough to let her rest, so even though we started upstairs in the bed, I ended up following her down to the reclining chairs in the front room (or Living Room, or Parlor, or Sitting Room, or whatever you want to call it), bypassing the sofa along the way.  I ended up staying home with Deb instead of going to work because she was still in a good deal of pain this morning, and I knew she wouldn't be able to drive anywhere should it become necessary (e.g., to go see the doctor, to go to the ER, et cetera).  She nodded off mid-morning and dozed pretty well until 1pm, and then again after lunch until about 4pm or so, when she got up to take a shower.  I think she's feeling much better now.

And no drain to deal with.  Hurray!