Gift of RA

I feel as if I have just been wandering around the last couple of days with no idea what I needed to do.  I am feeling more coherent today, feels so much better.

Monday the surgery was for 3:30 in the afternoon, I had to be there by 2:30 to check in and register.  I could have something to eat before 6:30, so I had a couple of pieces of toast and a banana, later I had some coffee before 10:30.  I felt a bit strange because the other 2 surgeries were in the morning.  I was so ready to have that pedicle removed and the doc was pleased with how it was healing.  I also told him about the suture and he was going to check it out for me.  However, it will be a long time before my forehead is no longer numb – I expected that answer since my hip incision was numb for quite a while.

This time it was only an hour surgery, so it was after 5 when I was awake and dressed.  I cannot wear my glasses more easily because I have two small bandages and the bridge of my nose is between them.  However, the doc won’t let me drive until he sees me next Wednesday afternoon to take out sutures and  see how it looks.  Today I can now change the bandage and see how it looks – not all that anxious to see. I was put in a wheelchair and whisked to the car – fairly smooth ride.  We stopped at Bartell’s on the way home to pick up my antibiotic script – another 10 days of 4 a day.

I was rather out of it, a bit groggy and figured I would sleep very well.  They gave me a Percocet after surgery and said to do one of the Vicodin around 8:30.  So I did and as a result, I was awake all night.  I wasn’t uncomfortable, but I also wasn’t rested either.  I could really sleep late in the morning because I had an appointment with my new rheumatologist, Dr. Gorman.  Eddie took me and also came in with me to meet her – she’s young and seems very nice.  She doesn’t need to see me every time I do Orencia, but I will see the nurse practitioner in a coupe of weeks for my infusion.  Dr. Gorman is going to see if Remicade or Orencia works better with basel cell cancer – Orencia has been all right but I think I did better on Remicade.  We’ll see what happens.

Eddie left for his meetings and I had something to eat – it was 12:30 when we came home.  I planned to have a nap but  somehow forgot about it – not sure how that happened.  Maybe I was operating on autopilot.  I did sleep well Tuesday night, but still was on autopilot for the day.  I slept well last night and I am beginning to feel more myself.  I have noticed I am more comfortable in my body – is it all the prednisone or because I haven’t had Methotrexate or Orencia for several weeks and my immune system is working?  I notice my cough is pretty much gone – it has been hanging on for months.  I did lose 11 lbs of fluid from my leg; now I have to go back to wound care because other parts of the leg are a problem.  No idea what’s happening.

I can take showers, though I won’t be able to wash my hair until sutures are out.    I am waiting for my compression socks to arrive, I hope that will help the leg.  If they wrap the leg up again, I will be doing spit baths again for a while.  One thing about being stuck at home is not having to deal with all the rain and wind.  Last summer I was inside during the hot weather, now I am in during the cold, wet, rainy weather.  The only time I go out is for a medical appointment – I’m not quite ready to face the real world yet.

LATER

I had a shower and finally changed bandages – not too bad – though the new nose part is a bit bruised and swollen, it should go down more each day.  My left eyebrow looks a bit mangled, no way to tell for sure until the sutures are removed.  I didn’t really do a great job of re-bandaging, it will take some practice to figure out angle and size, as well as where the adhesive fits well.  By then I may be free of sutures.   I am glad to feel clean again and the steam seems to tame the parts of my hair that want to stick up.  I’m hoping the hair won’t be as ugly as the first surgery.  Vanity, all is vanity.

This entry was posted on March 24, 2016 at 11:04 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.