Cautiously Optimistic

It's been 12 days since my fifth surgery, and I dare say it's looking good.  My incisions have held up and started to heal nicely.  Dad pulled my drains on Sunday, and even though I had a mild cold, we were given the go-ahead to tackle the first "triple fill".  And personally, I am doing terrific. Again, you would never know what I've been through if we didn't tell you (and you didn't notice my bubbles!).  Mom says I'm as happy and charming as ever.

Everyone was a little nervous about beginning the fills, and although we were ok to go forward on Day 10, mom and dad were warned not to jump in to eagerly.  So, dad filled two 60 cc syringes, and one 30 cc syringe, and they planned to take it slow.  The only technical component that is different about doing the fills this time, other than that there is a third expander, is that the ports are under hairy skin and finding a way to seal the lidocaine is a challenge.  When dad accessed the first port, it seemed like I hadn't been numbed.  And, to top it off, the needle hit the side of the port and he had to stick me with a second needle.  But after that, it didn't seem like I felt anything.

The bigger challenge is not technical -- it's dealing with me emotionally.  Now that I am older, I am able to voice my displeasure.  Which I do.  For the entire process.  So, we are all going to have to figure out how to make this easier on me.  It will probably be a lot of "live and learn," and I bet we'll finally figure out the trick right at the end of this expansion!

All in all, the first fill of this round went fine.  Dad was able to inject the entire 60 into each back expander, and the entire 30 into my leg.  So I now stand at 180 in the left back, 170 in the right, and 80 in the leg.  One thing that is definitely different this time is that you can see the expanders early on.  It took a while to notice them through my clothes last time, but those back expanders are already visible now.  But that's ok, because the more visible they are, they bigger they are and the more skin I am making for Dr. Bauer to work with.

Left back expander with 180 cc and right back expander with 170 cc

 

Right leg expander with 80 cc

 

So, in general, things are going well.  It is early, so we are cautiously optimistic, but so far there is no need to fret.  We have one little issue to deal with, which is to determine the cause of some irritation I am having.  I started scratching heavily at my back the morning of surgery, and am still going for it now that the dressings are off.  Mom actually had to re-wrap me to keep my itchy fingers away from my stitches - which I scratched up and made bleed yesterday.  Thankfully, she already has an appointment with Dr. Price today, so hopefully we'll be able to get this under control soon.

As I bid adieu, let me wish you all the very happiest holiday season.  We are all very excited for Christmas in my house, and even more excited to bring in 2012, which we expect to be a wonderful year!