Doc Appt 10/5/11 - Heavy Duty Surgery Planned

I had a doctor appointment today and I was a wee bit nervous about going because it's been about two months since I've seen my doctor and then I tried to get ahold of him several times about the tattoo (which didn't end up happening anyway cause Kore Flatmo had to leave town for family reasons) and he never got back to me so I didn't know what was up.  Plus, I know he had talked to another one of my doctors who works with all my other medications and was going to work with me on detoxing and evidently they had a discussion and that plan was squashed.  So needless to say, I was having some nerves about going to this appointment.

But it turned out great.  Garrett came in (looking fabulous btw, wearing a grey casual shirt and black slacks) and had a big smile on his face for me, greeted me, and gave me a good hug.  Phew, I felt the nerves calming down now like when the tide reaches the beach and slows down as it gets to it's peak on the sand.  He had an intern with him who actually knew me when I was first in the burn center so that was cool.  So then we got into a conversation about how my neck felt and my eye.  Then we discussed a whole lot of things that were contracted, banded, tight or all of the above with my body.  I just started rambling off all that I felt was contracted and tight and then said, "you're like a doctor/therapist.  I'm just listing off all that's wrong.  Can I just get a whole new body?  Can we do body transplants yet?"  He replied, chuckling, "No, we're not that far along in medicine yet.  And don't worry about telling me everything that doesn't feel good cause when I was working as an intern once under this doctor who had been working with a patient for nearly 20 years and I suspect we're going to be working together for a long time like that, too.  Burn reconstruction is a lifelong process.  But I'm gonna do everything I can for you." (aawwww)

So after I talked about everything that was contracting or banding he decided we would get another surgery scheduled and it's going to be a doozy cause he wants to do a lot of things all at once.  He wants to release  each side of my neck, release my right elbow (probably a z-plasty and try to get that nerve in my elbow untwisted from the scar tissue), a large release in the middle of my chest and a release under my left breast, a possible release on my right wrist and under forearm and a release in my abdomen.  Whoa, that's a lot of stuff to do.  He's also going to do the allograft again as well so it's actually going to be two surgeries on everything that's intended to be grafted because he puts the allograft on first and it stays on for around 5 days and then I go back in for a second surgery on everything to put the graft down.  I will end up being in the hospital for at least 10 days.  So this is going to be a heavy duty surgery.

I'm nervous about it all cause that's just a lot of stuff and I can imagine the kind of pain I'm going to be in with the chest release cause I've had that done once and it was really hard and painful and not to mention all the donor sites that will be needed to do all of this.  Donor sites are THE MOST PAINFUL!  So we are going to be in great need again of medical supplies for when I come home for wound care.  Specifically some more gloves, both sizes of the elastic netting but probably focusing more on the size 10 because I will be having work done on my chest and abdomen and will need to make a "t-shirt" with it and I can't do that with a size 8 BUT we will need the size 8 for other things, too.  Also new on my wishlist is Organic Shea Butter Lotion that was recommended at WBC for keeping my skin healthy and keeping breakdown at bay and so far it's working!!  So that is highly needed now as well to keep my skin from getting open sores before surgery and highly needed for daily use.  Also new is what is called Alpha Keri Oil that was also recommended for me at WBC by someone who tried it and discovered it softened her scar tissue as well as her contractures!!!  I could really use that now as well as for after my surgery to use after showers and as a massage oil into the releases to keep them soft and prevent from contracting.  It will also be nice to get things that aren't just medical supplies to keep me busy while recovering such as movies, books, cross stitching, etc.  I hate asking for help like this but it is most needed and even more so now with this big of a surgery coming up.

So now I'm just waiting for Garrett's MA to give me a call to get this heavy duty doozy of a surgery scheduled.  I get anxious now cause I know it always takes at least a week for her to finally call me.  Let's hope she calls sooner this time.