Post-Op Visit

Today I had my 1 month post-op visit at UVA at 11:30. My surgeon was in surgery so I saw his personal nurse. She took out the wound vac and was VERY pleased with how the wound looked. She sent me home in a gauze dressing. The nurse will put the wound vac back on in the morning when she comes.

It felt odd walking (well really riding in the wheelchair) out of the doctor's office today without the wound vac hooked up. Butch decided to try a little experiment. I was feeling okay and we were both hungry with having been in the doctor's office for over 2 hours.Butch is trying to get my life back to as close as normal as he can. Soooooo, he took me on a mini date. We went to Panerera Bread for our first outing since surgery. I walked in on his arm, very slow and belabored, but walking none-the-less. I sat down while he ordered a sandwich that we split and a smoothie. I ate about 1/4 of the sandwich.  Ohhh, it was so good. We reversed our trip back to the car for a smooth ride home. I slept the entire trip home. I was so tired from the trip but it was a good tired. After we got home, Butch actually folded the walker up and moved it to another room. He thinks I'm good without it. I agree with him. In fact yesterday for PT, I actually walked out to my back yard in the grass without the walker (and as they say it in their goal...over varying terrains). I'm still a slow turtle but getting better strength wise!

With having been sent home with a gauze dressing, that meant that Butch had to change it tonight for a fresh packing. The nurse sent him home with everything he needed and they went over the process several times in the office. I am absolutely amazed at my husband. He followed the procedure to the "t" and did it so efficiently. I am so very lucky to have him be able to do this for me. I can't even look down at my stomach when this is being done. I don't know what I would do if he had a hard time changing the dressing. My roommate Nancy and I did it out of dire necessity several weeks ago prior to getting the wound vac. I have 2 very strong people that follow through with anything they have to because they know it's what I need. I am so lucky.

We devised a plan today to cut back on my pain medicine a little. It's here if I need to increase it to what I currently take if the pain dictates that I need it, but by decreasing it a little, I should be able to not be as tired as I currently am. Tonight will be the first test. Wish me luck.