Monday, February 28, 2011

I saw the battle scars today.....

That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not.  ~James K. Feibleman

The home health care visiting nurse finally arrived around 1700 today, and what an experience that was.  The poor woman had a really bad day, with nothing going right, and she was so stressed out when she arrived that I wanted to send her right back out the door.  But we had been waiting all day for her arrival, so we let her stay.  I can only hope we get don't get her again.  The guy we had yesterday was great -- really laid back, good sense of humor, super nice guy.  Anyway, Linda took so long to get here today that we had to drain one of the drains about an hour before she arrived because one of them is draining a lot more than the other three (nothing to be alarmed about, they say).  She drained the others and THEN it was time to change the dressings.  UGH!  I really wasn't sure I wanted this harried woman assigned to that task.....especially because some of the gauze was stuck to the battle scars.  Not pleasant.  But she was pretty gentle, even in her frazzled state of mind.  Ken was a big help, too.  Linda couldn't find anything she needed (add 'disorganized' to her description) , so he assisted with that, too.  We were standing in the hallway of the RV (close to the bathroom, which was too small to hold all of us) while doing this procedure.  When I got a glimpse of "everything" (and lack thereof) in the ceiling-to-floor hall mirror......well, suffice it to say, I had to sit on the bed from that point on -- don't let me catch a glimpse of THAT again for awhile!  Wow!  Anyway, it's all wrapped up neatly and tightly with large ace bandages again.  I guess the dressings will now be changed every day for several days.  I think I'll be calling the home health office tomorrow morning and requesting somebody else, however.  I don't want to hurt the poor woman's feelings, but she stressed me out too much.  I'm already quite sick of the drains and will be more than happy to shed those, but I guess that won't be until next Monday at the earliest when I meet with the surgeon again.
Other than that experience, I had a pretty good day.  This morning, Ken and I took the dogs for a nice long walk (maybe 3/4 of a mile?.....not that long, but pretty good for now).  I sat out in the sun and read for awhile, sat inside and read for awhile, took a snooze for a couple of hours, and basically did nothing strenuous or tiring, which felt really good.
In fact, I think I'll go read for awhile again right now! 
P.S.  All you grammar/spelling freaks -- I realize I spelled luxurious wrong (after the surgery), but it's too much trouble to change it.  Hope it doesn't offend you too much.....LOL!  There are probably other mistakes, too, although I TRY to be pretty careful about that.   

3 comments:

Penelope Z said...

You are a warrior, sister. I can't imagine experiencing what you did today. Every day will be a wee bit better than the one before. I am amazed that you went for a walk!

Love you, dearie. P

Jean said...

Dear Suzy--
Your blog continues to be a literary work of art!It is an amazing record of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I hope and believe that each day from now on will be better than the last, and, finally, we and Nancy will be there with you and Kenny.
I love you--Freeland

Jean said...

You are indeed a warrior, Suzy - the best kind! Please INSIST on getting a different Home Health person today - you don't need a harried, unsympathetic person "helping" you. Only 11 more days and we'll be headed down there - it can't come soon enough! I love you - Mom