Westward Wings

Deb is flying back today. I have spoken to her a couple of times already today, and since I just received an email she forwarded, I'm going to guess that she's in the Charlotte airport awaiting her next flight. She'll arrive sometime just before 10pm, and I'll be there at the airport to pick her up (since I have the car and I don't think she wants to struggle onto mass transit with 2 large bags and 2 carry-ons). It's been eight days since she left me at the Knoxville airport. Eight long days.

She went to see the surgeon yesterday. Actually, she'd also been to see another of her surgeons on Monday. He's the one who did the cancerectomy (is that a word? It is now). She was complaining about the staples to him, so he went ahead and removed some of them (or maybe all of them). Yesterday she got to have the rest of her sutures removed. I feel bad that I couldn't be there with her. I had been to all of her other appointments with him.

So today she is flying. I think she even snagged a free first-class upgrade for the NC->WA flight. I hope so. She'll be a lot more comfortable that way. She'll be here finishing up her recovery period until Sunday, when she goes back to work and flies back out again to points on the map well to the right of Seattle.

I guess I can release my breath now. I feel like I've been holding it ever since late April when she was diagnosed. I feel like we've been extremely lucky with this. Not that she got cancer, of course, but that we were able to come all of the way through this in just over six months and have her declared to be cancer-free without having to go through chemo or radiation therapy. I know way too many people who have ridden the cancer roller coaster and gotten a much rougher ride. My heart goes out to them - those I know and those I don't. I know that we've been barely affected in the grand scheme of things.

So, with all things considered, I'm quite happy now. Or at least I will be at about 10pm tonight.

Stocked Up with Staples

Deb has surgical staples this time around. She may have had some before, but I don't remember it. I'll remember this time. So will she. They are a frequent topic of conversation. At least daily, if not more often.

She goes back to the surgeon on Tuesday. He's supposed to pull the sutures and staples then. If he doesn't for any reason, Deb may just grab the staple remover and rip them out herself. They are really bothering her. Really. (Yes, really).

Other than that, I think she's doing OK. She and Mom-Linda drove to Knoxville today and will stay until Wednesday. Deb's stamina is greatly improved over her previous surgery. Tomorrow she is going with friends to our favorite Knoxville restaurant, RouXbarb. On Tuesday, she's going out with other friends ... to the same place. I guess I don't feel quite so bad about heading up to Hudson last night for take-out instead of cooking something here.

I'll try to post an update after Deb's appointment on Tuesday.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus

Well, it's been since Tuesday that I last saw Deb. I've talked to her several times each day since, but sitting here late on Friday night in Seattle, with my wife sleeping (I hope) in Kingsport on Saturday early morning, I'm becoming expert on realizing that it isn't anything remotely near the same. I feel that I should be there with her, but we both realized that I needed to come back when I did. Doesn't make me feel any better about it. Maybe I'll feel better about it late on Wednesday evening once she's back under my watchful eye.

It isn't that I don't think Mom-Linda is capable of caring for Deb. I do. I'd just rather be doing it myself. Still, less than a week to go. In fact, the countdown is at five days.

Deb, from all reports, continues to recover well. She's already made several outings, even a few with me before I left, but I think she may actually try eating out one evening very soon. She's told me that she wants to go back to Knoxville on Sunday (or was it Monday?) to spend a night or two before coming back, so she must be doing OK. This means that she'll have to make outings to eat out and things like that - we have no food, pots and pans, plates, forks, knives, spoons, or anything like that in the house in Knoxville now. I'm going to guess that her stamina will be up to the multiple excursions.

Five days. Five days. Five rotten, stinking days.

Parted Again

Well, she sent me away. No, not really, but I did have to leave Deb back in TN so I could come back out to the Upper Left Coast. We drove from Kingsport to Knoxville early yesterday morning in the pick-up, which wasn't exactly the most comfortable of rides for her, but it was tolerable enough I suppose. We had several stops to make on the way into town and then went to the house to do a few last minute things at the house before her appointment with her surgeon.

Mom-Linda had to pick up something for us in Kingsport, so she left there a little later than we did. She met us at the house as I was finishing up doing a little touch-up painting on some spots where we had removed screws and nails and put some spackle. We left the pick-up in the garage, loaded my luggage into Mom-Linda's car, and headed over to the surgeon's office.

We got there a bit early, so we had to wait until he got there from the hospital (he'd done a couple of surgeries that morning). He took off Deb's bandages and declared that she was healing according to plan. Then he took out her surgical drain.

Deb had gone through the drain removal process twice before (she had two drains after the last surgery, and they came out at different times). I think that this time with the one was equal to, or perhaps more than, the pain of the other two combined. She said it made her a little more sympathetic all of her patients whose drains she'd pulled over the years.

The doc wrapped her back up, told her she could now remove bandages in order to take a shower, and set her up to come back in a week to have sutures and staples removed.

We left the office and went to grab some lunch, and then they drove me to the airport and walked me up to security. Their plan from there was to go back by the house and pick up some last minute stuff and then head back to Kingsport. I did talk and text at times with Deb from the various airports I visited, and once more once I reached the Seattle house, so I know she was doing OK post-drain removal.

I talked to her again this morning. She was just finishing up her shower. I think that being able to do that has made her very happy.

Reunited

After spending two nights in Knoxville, I am back in Kingsport today with Deb at her Mom's. I think she's gotten some good rest while I've been gone, and has made some progress (as I expected that she would). She's been up walking (albeit slowly) a bit more today and has been awake more. That is likely due to her cutting back on her Percocet dose from one every four hours to one every six hours. When I got here she was at 5-1/2 hours and was a bit uncomfortable, but that isn't a surprise to me, all things considered.

Her first follow-up appointment with the surgeon is on Tuesday back in Knoxville. I will fly out right after that appointment and Deb and Mom-Linda will head back to Kingsport for another week. Deb and I have been discussing whether or not we might want to head back to Knoxville on Monday so I can get a few more things done around the house there before I leave, but we haven't made a decision yet. Part of it will depend on how well Deb is able to sleep in a regular bed, which she will try for the first time post-surgery tonight. We shall see.

Tuesday's appointment is suppose to be to have Deb's bandages removed and changed out by the surgeon, and also to have him remove the drain on her right side. The next week he will, in all likelyhood, remove the sutures. I think Deb will be ready to fly back to Seattle after those are gone.