The surgery

I was in Ann Arbor with HB all day yesterday to get the surgery done to move my catheter to a new site.  Well, that didn't happen.  My surgery was scheduled for 1:00 pm, and we needed to arrive by 11:30 am for pre-op. We arrived on time, and then waited until 1:30 for them to finally take me back to get ready for the surgery.  At this point, I hadn't eaten anything since 9:30 the night before, and I wasn't able to drink any liquids since 9:30 that morning.  That will make anyone's day a lot longer than it needs to be, but by golly, I just wanted to get this over and done with.  The surgery was supposed to take place a few weeks earlier, but was postponed because of the GI bleeding that I experienced a week before the original surgery date.  I had been in contact with the doctor at U of M for a few months at this point, so this felt like a tremendous struggle to begin with.

I finally get prepped for surgery, IV in, stripped down to nothing but a gown, and a sweet blue hair net on.  Everything was a go.  They wheel me back and I get moved onto the operating table, and they decide to do a quick CT scan to make sure that there is enough room in the left lower quadrant of my abdomen.  Well, it turns out my liver is there (for reference, the liver in a healthy individual lies just behind your lower ribs on the right side of your body.  Mine has grown to take over most of my abdomen at this point.  There's not enough room.  The doctor takes a look at the current site of the catheter, in my right lower quadrant.  She decides that the safest thing to do, is just leave things as is, and just keep a close eye on the site.  I have her email address, and am supposed to email her pictures of the site if I feel like things are getting worse.  To be honest, things have been stable at the site for a while now, but I'm using a lot of triple-antibiotic ointment.  It isn't causing the skin to necrose any further, but it has seemed to stabilize the site.  She told me that there is no harm in continual use of the antibiotic ointment, and to keep using it as I currently am.

In a way, I'm really glad to have not had the operation.  I was pretty apprehensive about it in the first place, just because of the GI bleeding before.  On the other hand, it's really annoying to have this problem still going on, and it's another thing to add to the stress pile.  It's super nice to be able to just relax this weekend, instead of worrying about recovering.  The recovery wasn't bad last time, but that was 6 months ago, and I have a feeling that recovery this time around wouldn't have been as easy.

So, HB and I are spending the day together, not with her having to take care of me recovering, but just relaxing and spending time together.  Currently, we're in our mud room soaking in this glorious sun and just having some quiet reading time.

Thanks to everyone who sent food to us for this.  I'm sorry that the surgery didn't happen, but your food is delicious, and I'll always accept some good home cooking.  Thanks for all of your support and thoughts and prayers.