Better day...

We went back to see Dr. Gimbel (plastic surgeon) again today. I've talked with his nurse Judy (she should add "counselor" to her title...) several times since the incision in my leg split open and she called me Tuesday to say, "he wants to see you Thursday, can you come in?". It didn't seem to us that we were making much, if any, progress in healing this big open area so in we went. Neither Dr. Gimbel or Judy seemed the slightest bit phased by the big gaping hole in my leg (which Darin described - he saw it for the first time today since we have had a visiting nurse, which is a story for another day... changing the dressings for the past several days - as looking as though it were groomed with a cheese grater. This is also how it feels... RAW). Dr. Gimbel took out some exposed stitches which he said the body treats like foreign objects once they have been exposed. It seems that they stitched up the inside of the incision and then glued the outer portion (if that makes any sense...) and once it came open, exposing the stitches, it was having difficulty healing. He is still saying that it will take several weeks for it to heal up but he is also still giving me the green light to slowly increase my sitting and activity level. I'm very nervous to do this because it seems very counterintuitive to the healing process (especially where this is located...). So... I'll be taking it slow while I have the help in order to be at full capacity once Audrey is on her way to greener, less kid & laundry-filled pastures! The breast seems to be doing well (no one has really spent too much time on that and it is what this is all about, right??) although there is some firmness which he said "may be fat necrosis" (for the unmedically initiated, that means death due to lack of blood supply). However, it has only been just over two weeks so we will just be watching that and waiting to see what happens between now and when I see him again in 6 weeks. There will eventually be another procedure to complete the breast but he wants to potentially hold off on that longer than the usual 3 months to make sure that there isn't any other revision that we will need to do to the leg scars. That way everything can be taken care of in one procedure (and that works for me as I am about procedured to death!).

So... I think that we came away (eating fabulous Whole Foods scones and sipping some Starbucks) feeling encouraged despite the lack of obvious progress in healing. It mustn't look too bad to him because at one point he said, "what are you, a month out?". What?? It feels like it, but it has only be a little over 2 weeks... Regardless it gives me hope that I will be able to join Darin and the boys on his birthday at the new Consol Energy Center (where the Penguins play) to watch Parker skate between periods of an RMU club game and then the RMU varsity game against Air Force. That is what Darin has been wanting to do for his birthday since before we new that Parker had been chosen to skate and it has been my goal in healing to be able to get there. We'll see!! At least it is finally seeming like there is at least a possiblity of it happening.

As always we are more than grateful for the fantastic meals and the continued prayers of everyone around us. We know that we are so well covered and we wish that there were something that we could do to show you what all of this means to us...