Doctor's Appointment

Today was a very long and busy day. I had a doctor's appointment at 11:45am, and the facility here arranged transportation for me. We had to wait for my nutrition line to empty before I could take a shower, and that didn't happen until just after 10:00am.

I get to the appointment, only to discover that I was supposed to have had a contrast dye CAT scan at 8:00am. Pretty hard to get to an appointment that no one notified me about.

So I saw the doctors. They think I look GREAT. Part of the incision site is oozing (some sort of low-grade infection), so Dr. Mann opened up part of it so that it could drain. Looks weird to see a 1/4 inch gap in my stomach, but that's how the thing has to heal.

Next I needed lab work (everybody wants my blood). And after that I headed down to Radiology to begin drinking the "water" stuff for the CAT scan. Takes about an hour to drink that stuff, so shortly after 2:30pm, I'm actually getting the scan.

Then it's back up to the doctor's clinic and wait for the results of the scan. After almost 45 minutes, I went back and saw one of the interns and he gave me great news. First, my white blood cell count is way down. And secondly, the scan showed that the abscess is almost totally gone!!!! Those two things combined meant that the last drain bag could be removed. Yea....free at last. Of course there is always a little pain to go along with that (especially since my stomach is so sensitive). I'm no longer a Bag Lady!!!!

And I walked everywhere today. Took my time of course, but the folks from Physical Therapy would have been proud of me. I easily put in over one (1) mile.

Got back to my Ballard "home" about 5pm and dinner was just being served. Since I had missed lunch, I ate quite a bit. Then I dove for my pillow and took a power nap for over an hour.

Oh, the doc cancelled my antibiotic IV, so no more being awakened every 6 hours for that. And my nutrition rate (calories) has been cut in half. That means I've got to start eating some of this stuff, even if I don't particularly care for it.

I'll be here at least ONE MORE WEEK. My next appointment is one week from today - 9/15/2009 at 9:15am. Then the surgeon wants me to go visit the doctors at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). Hopefully I can get an appointment later on that same morning. My goal is to depart here Wednesday 9/16. We shall see.

To all of you that have continued to pray for me, thank you. I have definitely been in the presence of the Lord and I know that He will continue to guide me down this path.

Oh yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can see it now.