Cover That Up!

Well today was another fun filled half day at the hospital. This time we (I) set the alarm correctly and didn't have to rush around prior to leaving at 4:15. We showed up and did everything just like we did last time, we even had the same surgery registration nurse (but a different OR nurse). She was very nice again and remembered Stephanie. Apparently being a 23 year old with an unexplainable oral cancer makes you stick out to people. Stephanie finally has an anesthesia record, of over ten pages. Dr. Kaplan came in and explained the surgery again, that they were going to take a flap of skin from the thigh and place it over the integra (shark cartilage compound stuff) to complete the forearm reconstruction. Then it was decision time, where on the thigh to take the flap from? Stephanie didn't care, as she said she had so many scars what was one more. Ever the plastic surgeon, though Dr. Kaplan suggested the inner thigh to be much less conspicuous. Stephanie's mom thought this would be a good idea so that was the decision Stephanie went with. After all "it will be more uncomfortable while it heals, but that's only a couple of weeks. The cosmetics of it will last a lifetime." was Dr. Kaplan's quote. We then told him that the wound vac was having trouble, it's been staying on pretty permanently to maintain the vacuum, which drains the battery real fast. He said once the graft it would need to be on steadily so one of us should go get the cord to plug it in. I got volunteered for this so since I had the car keys and the new apartment keys (more on that later). I got to the apartment at around 7:30 and got a text message that the surgery was starting. After spending nearly all day every day in the hospital with the last surgery it was pretty difficult for me to not be there for this one. Of course when I got in both dogs were dying to get out into the yard. I was pulling into the garage right around 8:05 when Stephanie's mom called me again to let me know they were done with the surgery and needed the cord for the wound vac. As I got to the waiting room they were paging once again because they really needed the cord. Dr. Kaplan came out to tell us that everything went smoothly the only hiccup was that the wound vac started beeping the low battery warning as soon as they got her into recovery so that was why they really needed the cord. Around 9:00 we were told they had a room for us, we waited there until about 9:20 or so and they finally brought her in. Her big complaint was that her thigh hurt now, and she never really hurt after the last surgery, what big weenie huh? It would be the 30 minute surgery that made her complain, not the 14 1/2 hour long one. We got home shortly before noon and I crashed almost immediately, along with Stephanie, I had to make up for the previous two nights. Last night I didn't sleep much because we had to get up for the surgery.

Yesterday (Sunday) was moving day. We moved to a two bedroom apartment so that we could spread out some more. It's also on the first floor which makes access a lot more convenient, and the dogs can run around a lot more. We just moved to another apartment that the company has leased so luckily there was no furniture to move. I stayed up until around 2am Saturday night getting the bedroom, bathroom, and closet "packed" up. I got up around 4am to finish cleaning the bathroom and start loading the truck. around 7:30 I took the first load over to the new apartment and just threw everything into the master bedroom. I went back and finished packing the kitchen and the den, and vacuumed the bedroom and dining room area. I realized was I was packing the kitchen that our pantry and fridge had never been so stocked. Luckily we save lot's of Wal-Mart/Leblancs sacks for cleaning up after the dogs, so everything the kitchen left in the same type sacks they came in in. We had both apartments swapped by 12:30. Stephanie and her parents showed up to help with the second load, and un-packing. There is certainly still some straightening up to be done, and all the hanging up clothes are still in my trunk, but over all the move is done and that's a relief. And now you see why I crashed so hard this afternoon when we got home.

One bad thing about the new apartment is the room is distributed differently (master closet is much smaller, but there's a closet under the stairs, master bedroom is a little smaller). The other drawback to this apartment is that it's ADA accessible, which means the tub is smaller in the master so that there is room for the shower, which has a bench in it. Also the cabinets and counters are lowered, and the washer and dryer are smaller, the kitchen is wider for wheelchair access, but has the same storage space.

The dogs are certainly enjoying all this new space and enjoying me not trying to settle them down when they get rambunctious. They've learned they're way around, but still find new smells to check out throughout the day.Edgar continues grow, and to quote our boss when he first saw him "Look at the hooves on that animal!". It's a little difficult to try and train him since he is generally far more interested in convincing Ruekie to play with him than working for treats. Except when it's food time, he's ALWAYS ready to eat (both his food and Ruekie's).

Tomorrow we will go back to the hospital so that Mell can do swallow study. She's worried about Stephanie aspirating so the study will show her how Stephanie swallows, apparently the contrast she has to swallow for everything to show up on the x-ray is pretty nasty, so you can imagine how much she is looking forward to that. After the swallow study we will go to the radiation oncology dietitian and see if we can get Stephanie on different food. Preferably something denser so she can eat less and her stomach won't feel full of liquids all the time. Currently we try to feed her 14 times a day in order to get the nine cans she's supposed to be "eating" into her. this keeps her full as the only times she doesn't get fed are the times we fill her up with the liquid medicine. Then we will meet with the Medical Oncologist, who will tell us about the anti-radiation drug that is supposed to improve quality of life after radiation (protects the salivary glands) but doesn't protect the cancer cells. He will also talk to us about any chemo-radiation protocols that might apply to Stephanie's very unique case (as I said before she's pretty famous in the radiation department, we'll see what medical department thinks about her too). On Wednesday we go back to see Dr. Pou again, much sooner than the original plan of three weeks past the last appointment, but Dr. Fields recommended it to make sure her surgery wounds are healing up pretty well. It's not a big deal to delay radiation a week, but if something happens with one of the wounds during radiation they don't stop the treatments unless it's VERY severe, so Stephanie would have to deal with even more discomfort during what is a very uncomfortable experience anyways. This ended up being far longer than I would have ever intended. Thank you all for your continued prayers, above everything else these have helped sustain us.

All any of us is guaranteed is the present, this knowledge, while frequently given lip service to has become increasing relevant in our lives, thus "THIS is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it".