OK so I know I have a bunch of back posting to do. I have been keeping notes but just haven’t gotten around to updating the blog yet. I just had to post a few things on my mind before I forget them.
We started getting a bit worried yesterday because there were some bumps and redness appearing on my neck. The swelling also had been fluctuating (better in the morning, worse in the evening) in past days but seems to have leveled off and been pretty constant recently. That and the fact that I randomly feel hot, sweaty, clammy, and nauseous had us worried enough to make an appointment to talk to our regular doctor today. Luckily each time I felt bad we took my temperature and confirmed that I did not have a fever.
Adrianne tried to call the neruosurgeons office with no luck. It was then I recalled that in my well thought out plan of getting the surgery done sooner rather than later, the bad side effect was that the neurosurgeon was now out of state at some major neurosurgery conference for this week and would not be available to answer questions. So we scheduled an appointment last night to see our primary care doctor today.
As an aside, one of the things I really like about this doctor is the abillity to manage your appointments fully through their secure portal. I was able to log on at 11:30pm and select which doctor in the practice I wanted to see, and then select my preferred appointment time out of the date / time combinations returned. You can even do advanced registration online and submit the copayment. So when I got to the doctor’s office rather than waiting through the 5 minute customary barrage of questions and request for co-pay, she simply said I see you have comlpeted advanced registration and paid. Then she handed me my appointment sheet with labels and told me to sit down that a nurse would call me back shortly. Much much more convenient!
So we get called back and remember right away that she has access to all of the hospital records since she is in the same network. I was reminded of this fact when she went over the medications I was taking and asked if I was still taking medicines that had been prescribed to me at the hospital. So to help you realize exactly how hilarious this next part is, I have to give you some brief background. While in the hospital I became suddenly and violently fixated with lime sherbet. Orange was offered in its place but no other would do, it had to be lime. The nurses in the ICU were amazingly accommodating searching all over the hospital for hidden stashes and bringing me lime sherbet at any time of day or night when requested. Once I went to a regular room they were not so accommodating and usually told me they were out (ironically enough the ICU nurses said that they had a stash and it was this stash the ICU nurses were raiding). They offered me Orange sherbet a few times but I just turned up my nose because nothing but lime would do! The soon understood and stopped offering simply stating that they did not see any lime sherbet. So apparently the hospital staff was very amused by this and made some remark in my paperwork because as my primary doctor was reviewing the hospital report she looked up smiling at me and said “so you like lime sherbet huh?”
Okay so maybe it was only amusing to me but I found it delightful that my legacy at Duke hospital was sending nurses on numerous goose chases looking for the elusive lime sherbet.
So back to what many are probably curious about … primary doctor took a look and said that everything looked really good to her. She asked if I had ever had an allergic reaction to stitches (which I have not). Her basic assessment was redness is pretty normal and as long as there is no puss or bloody draining accompanied with a high fever than I am fine. She said that most likely the bumps and/or redness were from a reaction to the tape that was used to hold the dressing in place or skin irritation that can commonly happen when stitches have been in for a while. She was also very impressed at how quickly I was recovering. She made remarks several times about how well I seemed to be doing, and how much mobility I already had with my neck. She also reassured us that when she looked at the stitches they were very well done. She commented several times that the stitches were very nicely done and that the area was fully sealed and looked very nice. She answered several of our questions since we got different stories from nurses and doctors at Duke. For example, a nurse told me she had orders to change my dressing every day and that I was supposed to keep the dressing on each day with antibiotic cream. The doctor so absolutely not that it needed to breathe and exposure to the air would be good. He further said that putting the antibiotic cream on could do more damage than good because it could trap dirt particles that otherwise would not be there and may actually cause infection. So the consensus when we left was to only put the cream and dressing on if it started to look like it was getting infected. But of course having seen doctors and nurses pretty evenly split on their advice we were still confused. Our primary doctor confirmed that it would be a good idea to leave the dressing off and not put on the cream. She said if the wound wasn’t completely sealed or there was any drainage I should probably use the dressing and cream but as it is since it looked to be healing very well and sealed to just keep doing what I was doing.
So all in all a very good day today. Each day continues to have it’s highs and lows but today just seemed a generally good day. Not only did we get answers that we were looking for with the reasoning and explanations behind the answers, we were also reassured that we had nothing to worry about and I was healing even faster and better than anticipated. And the best part is I didn’t have any real emotional lows today. I felt pretty positive and encouraged all day. I have also noticed that my emotional lows seem to correspond with late evening when the sun is on its way down or it is already dark. And today even though the sun is on its way out I still feel pretty darn good!
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