Thankful and Blessed for YOU

It is the evening on the 2nd day after my 31st surgery and I wanted to tell you how great of a success #31 was!  I am very pleased to announce nothing went wrong and everything went to plan minus one little hiccup and I'll explain that in just a moment.

I rolled into the surgery room a little after 7:30am so surgery was right on time.  I was in operating room number 3 this time around and I immediately thought of Jack with his obsession with the number 3 and that led my thoughts to, "this has got to be a sign for a successful surgery."  As I lay on the operating table and the oxygen mask was put over my face which meant the horrible sting of the anesthesia was to come any moment, I thought of my family praying for me and all my dear friends who were praying for me.  I thought of all you guys who follow my blog and those of you that just read it who have sent out prayers my way for me and who were keeping me in your thoughts.  And just as the sting of the anesthesia swam down through my vein, a wash of calm came over me from thinking about everyone's prayers and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room.

The surgery deemed to be one of my more successful ones.  He released both sides of my neck, the middle of my chest wall almost down to my belly button, both my elbows as well as untangling a nerve that was tangled up in some scar tissue in my right elbow and here's where the hiccup came..he had released my chest wall but after doing this he realized he couldn't now turn me over because he had just opened up my chest so releasing the back of my axillas was no longer feasible.  So they will have to be done on another surgery.  But I am not upset over this I think because of you all - my family, friends and blog followers.  I think all your prayers and support have given me a calming mindset this time around.  So thank you all so much for giving me that.

Earlier today, my PT's got an order from my doctor to take down the bulkiness of the dressings on my arms and I got a little sneak peak at some of the work he did on my elbows since that's where the bulky dressings were and oh my goodness it looked great!  I didn't get to see the actual surgical wound and where he released the contractures cause they were completely covered up with the acticoat but I got to see around them and everything looked nice and cleaned up from scar tissue and contractures and scar bands.  My doctor said he cleaned up quite a bit of scar tissue in all six places he released.  More than he ever had before.  And Steve, his PA said I just looked like a fileted fish there on the operating table...that's some nice imagery....But I just can't wait to see underneath the acticoat where the actual releases are.  That might happen tomorrow so we'll see what comes tomorrow.  But I'm very happy with this surgery.

I am, however, having some panicky feelings about this next surgery on Halloween because my arms have to be put in splints for four days.  FOUR DAYS!!!  I will not be able to do anything for myself including feeding myself, getting something to drink, going to the bathroom (even though I'll probably have a catheter in) getting in and out of bed, scratching an itch...OH MY GOD!!   I don't know if I'm going to make it through those four days.  

Well, I just wanted to let you all know that your prayers and keeping me in your thoughts truly does make a difference and I think it really did on Monday when I had my first surgery.  I also want you to know that I never take your prayers for granted.  I feel truly blessed to have the kind of support that I have from all of you, including my family.  Thank you so much for all your friendship, support and love;  All the things you say to me whether on here as a comment or on Facebook truly make a difference in my days and in my life.  They do not go unnoticed or unappreciated.  Just the opposite.