Out they came, all 28, at our clinic visit this morning. A little pinching, but not bad. So now Donovan has a long, armipit to armpit "clamshell" reminder of his double-lung miracle! Healing very nicely, too, but he says it feels weird, because the area is numb. Must have severed nerves or something.
Taking out the stitches that closed the holes where his chest tubes were inserted was a little trickier. I guess they wanted to make sure those incisions were very tightly closed to prevent anymore air-sucking which happened with the removal of the first tube. Anyway, there was much grimacing and teeth-clenching as those came out...and that was just me!!!
Everything else went well today...saw Donovan's new x-ray, very nice indeed! No more puffy, white, clouded, scarred hard-to-read x-ray, just clear lungs! Beautiful! The doc also says he's finally happy with Donvan's blood-work. That red-cell issue is now near normal. The anti-rejection levels which will be frequently checked are fine as well.
Over supper this evening we were discussing (reminiscing, I guess) about those early post -op days in the ICU. It's interesting to hear Donny's side of things. It really took about 5 days for him to realize the surgery had actually occurred. Even after we thought he knew what was happening, he was still in Saskatoon in his mind, and actually thought things weren't going well, and that was why all the lines and monitors...so scary for him. I'm so glad it's all over!
His new computer ( a Mac, complete with newest, biggest monitor) is a wonderful distraction and activity for Donovan at this point. He's loaded tons of photos on it, and is figuring out all the various programs, also starting to email friends, make plans for when he's back home, etc. Welcome back Donovan!!!
No physio Monday, but there will still be bloodwork at 8:30 a.m.). That means we'll have to get Donovan out for a little stroll, to replace his daily treadmill, so hope we have some good weather. There are the cutest wild rabbits in the neighborhood, so maybe we'll have a bit of a photo shoot as well.
I'm starting to dread leaving on Tuesday, but will make plans to return with Stephen in early November. I hear it snowed back home, one more reason to stay here!
Think I'll still be able to plant my tulip bulbs? Shouldn't have procrastinated that when we had a few days of 23 degrees the week I was home!
Hope you all have a great weekend, and find many reasons to be thankful...
Basking in blessings,
Beth
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2 comments:
the numbness sucks but is apparantly quite common in horizontal incissions. my low stomach is still numb from c sections 6, 10 and 11 years ago. it is not bad except for when the skin gets caught in a zipper ... :(
The staples are out? Yay!
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