One Week Post-Op

Oh, what a week it's been.  Complications?  Uh, yeah.  You know Murphy's Law, right?  Mom and dad sometimes think our last name should be Murphy.

We left the hospital last Friday afternoon.  Everything seemed ok, except that they wouldn't let me take any of the good drugs home with me!  The doc said all I needed was the OTC stuff, so that's what we had to go with.  Being on our own started out just fine.  Even though my incisions are in my back and on my bottom, I didn't have any problem getting into my carseat.  Dad cut some foam for it to make me more comfy, which worked out well.

Heading home from the hospital

I spent most of the day the way I spent the previous day and night -- sleeping in mom or dad's arms.  But then they noticed that I was getting warm.  Warmer.  Warmer.  By evening, my temp had reached 102.  Ugh!

Now, as I have said, I have the most fantastic doctor.  And he gave mom and dad his personal cell phone number to call if necessary.  So, of course, they did.  Doc wasn't too concerned.  He just said to manage it with Motrin, and he called in an antibiotic for me.  The fever did go away later that evening... temporarily.

In the end, I battled that fever for 4 days.  It would come and go, always going back up to about 102.  And of course, it made me feel terrible, which in turn made me a bit grumpy.  So, I didn't bounce back from surgery as quickly as expected. 

Being as uncomfortable as I was, I continued to spend my time being held, both day and night.  At one point over the weekend, I did try to lay in my own bed.  But that didn't work out.  Because of the drains coming from my wounds (which have to stay in 10 days post-op), the hospital said I'd have to wear arm-restraints in bed so I don't pull out the drains.  Well, me laying on my back (which I don't like), plus restraints on my arms (which I really don't like!), just didn't add up to a successful experiment.  So I ended up sleeping with mom every night for the first several nights.

 Sporting those darned arm restraints

A few days later, I did start to feel better.  I even started sitting up again.  Still couldn't roll, but at least I began gaining my independence back. 

Ahhh, you can start to see that spare tire

Yup, I am starting to smile and play again!

Just when things really started to look up, along came a little problem - that became a big problem - that became a little problem again.

Yesterday, when mom and dad went to change my dressing, they saw that it was bloody.  Uh-oh!  As it was unraveled, it became obvious that I had popped a couple of stitches, leaving two holes in my backside.

OUCH!

Immediately, they called the doctor's office. They were instructed to email over this picture so the doc could see what was going on.  He agreed it looked like some stitches had torn, gave instructions on wound care, and said not to worry.

Well, as mom and dad began to unravel the dressing again to clean the area (it was a few hours later), they saw that the dressing was bloody again.  Uh-oh became OH NO!  Now it appeared that more stitches had torn, and the skin had torn right along with them, leaving one big hole.

Another call to the doc - a direct one to his cell this time - left us with 1) instructions to get in to the office the following day (which was today) for a closer look and 2) a warning that the expansion may now be delayed.  Wonderful.

Ok, remember I said, the "big" problem became small again?  Well, it turned out that the stitches hadn't actually torn.  They were intact -- they were just underneath the top layer of skin.  What happened was that my nevus skin had torn along the incision, and the stitches just sunk down to the next level.  That nevus skin is so fragile; they're not kidding when they say that.

So, Dr. Bauer stitched me back up - which I did not enjoy at all - and said our expansion should be back on track.  We'll see on Monday... 

In the end, it wasn't a big deal. But it did take my discomfort level up a notch, at least for a little while.

Ahhh, now that I've gotten all the complaining off my chest, I want to share that this week certainly wasn't all bad.  First, and best, I got to spend time with some of my fellow nevus-owning friends.  I mentioned Sully (17-months-old) before.  He's my little buddy from South Dakota who had his fourth surgery the day I had my first.


Super-Sully!

Sully has really shown me, and others, the ropes on this adventure.  Well Sully and I got to get together with two of our other friends - Zac (Arizona, 8-months-old) and Brooklyn (Montana, 10-months-old).  Both Zac and Brooklyn had their first surgeries today, and both are doing well.  But before that, we all got to have some fun.  I can't tell you what a blessing these little guys (and gal) are to me - and to my family.  We really do love them all, and were so thankful to see them and share this experience with others going through it. 

My sissy and I have also had some fun this week.  Yesterday was her 3rd birthday, so we got to do some celebrating.  And it snowed today, which was fun to watch.  Sissy even got to go on a super-tall ferris wheel for the first time this afternoon.  Here are some pics from the fun stuff...

Catching a snowflake this morning

Ok, I'm not so happy to be bundled up, but I was still in a good mood, I promise!

Dad and sis are up there... somewhere.

Happy 3rd, sis!

All in all, we've had both our ups and downs this week.  But right now, we are feeling thankful that my recovery is going well, we are looking forward to completing my first expansion (and getting rid of these icky drains) in a few days, and we are so excited to go home next week.  Though, if the remaining 11 weeks of this expansion go as quickly as this last week did, we'll be back in Chicago before we can say "nevus"!