Aftermath of the big surgery

As I mentioned, I thought I may be coming down with a cold, but it never materialized in full force. It was always worse in the morning and evening... go figure. Sunday, though, when I got out of bed I was surprised by unexpected pain in my right middle toe. As the day wore on it became so painful that I could barely walk on it. I'm sure it didn't help that I was on my feet most of the day helping Chris, but by about 9:00pm I was in major distress so Chris encouraged me to go downstairs to the emergency room.

I got the full treatment, going through "admission", getting a wristband, and waiting in their waiting room with all manner of colorful characters, as you can imagine late on a Sunday night. They decided that I had an infection in the toe and they prescribed antibiotics.

I got back to Chris' room bout 11:00 p.m. and she was still awake so I told her what happened and proudly showed her MY wristband! We held our wrists together to admire them side-by-side... hers was green, mine was red. You could almost hear the music playing: "Isn't it romantic....?"!

Monday she was released so she put on her brand new cream-colored silk pajamas and we loaded her in the car
along with a cart-full of things that we had brought and/or accumulated

We were actually sad to say goodbye to all of the wonderful people there.

About half-way home she had to go to the bathroom. Hmmmm...

It had to be a Chevron. Hmmmmm...

Just as the need became 'critical', we finally found a Chevron. Whew!

But...

The mini-mart was attached to and part of a McDonald's that was full of people. ...and here comes Chris in her silk jammies, no make-up, hasn't be able to wash her hair for five days, hobbling through the mini-mart/restaurant very slowly and very carefully, headed for the bathroom! It was quite a sight. She said "Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!"

We got home to our wonderful ranch which had been so well cared-for by Kate, without whom Chris' cancer would not have been possible... that didn't come out right, did it?? Kate has been just incredible, taking care of everything for us while we took care of Chris. She is always there when we need her, no matter how large or small the request. "Kate is great!"

Monday night I was hobbling around like a 90-year-old man trying to get her comfortable, get some dinner, and take care of all the animals. I can't believe how much I use that darned toe, and it was REALLY uncomfortable. Before we left the hospital, one of Chris' nurses had noticed I was limping and asked about it. When I told her, she told me of an ancient Mayan remedy (she is Mayan, from Guatemala) involving hot water, vinegar, alcohol, and oregano (yes, I said "Oregano"). When I was finished with my chores for the day, I figured I had nothing to lose so I did what she said: it felt better immediately and now it is virtually pain-free. Amazing.

7:00 a.m. the first morning home (Tuesday) I found Chris outside gingerly shuffling around on the driveway with a fistful of carrots, inspecting her flower garden on her way to visit with the horses. As with everything else, Kate did a great job and the flowers looked beautiful. I went with her to the end of the driveway where she could feed the horses through the fence with no steep inclines. They were happy to see her and she them as well.

And there she was, surrounded by dogs and horses in our little piece of heaven; the best medicine for her, that's
for sure!

Tuesday was "wash-the-girl" day, which was very difficult and time consuming because she cannot use her abdominal muscles (remember they cut her from hip to hip to 'harvest' the tissue that they used for the reconstruction) and she is still in a fair amount of pain. Plus, we have to be very careful not to get any of the dressings wet or disturb any of the three drains that she has coming out of the surgical areas.

Dr. Brooks, the cancer surgeon, an adorable and petite lady who exhibits none of the unpleasant traits that we all
unfortunately experience with some doctors, called to tell us that the pathology report from the tissue they removed
from her breast shows 'clean margins' all around, which means that it is highly unlikely that any of the tumor still remains... they got it all! She is so sweet and kind; she sounded almost as happy about it as we were!

Hooray!

They think they got the entire tumor.

I never did develop the cold.

My toe is better.

Chris is back at the ranch.

Things are looking up!

The return appointment with the plastic surgeon is Monday.

Chemo starts in three weeks.

This update was posted on Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 10:12:44 PM (USA Central Time)
Last updated on Thursday, October 02, 2003 at 12:21:07 PM (USA Central Time)