Heal My Soul

A Song From my Sweet Son                               Written Monday, October 22nd

I opened my email this morning to this sweet note and recording of a song from Ross. He has been really, really busy with a teen conference that ended yesterday. I can't believe he woke up thinking of me and recorded this song. It's so soothing; I just love hearing his voice and his conviction through his singing and song writing. I'm going to add the recording...when I figure out how to.

From Ross:

Here's a new song I wrote. Very simple and repetitive a lot like the United Pursuit songs (Set A Fire & Nothing I Hold Onto).  My voice is super tired from the weekend and the guitar is a bit out of tune, but this should get the general idea of the song across to you

Its inspired by Psalm 147:3

Here are the lyrics

HEAL MY SOUL

Ross Lippencott

VERSE 1

Jesus you 

Are able to

Bind up the broken hearted people

CHORUS

Heal my soul

Make me whole

Fill my heart

With your love again

VERSE 2

Jesus you can

Heal my heart and

Cure every disease and sickness

LOVE YOU !!!

Ross

Sunday, October 28th
I can now make this note public because Ross taught it in his church service today and he put the recording up on his blog Remember Hymn. It sound really beautiful with the part singers and church singing and actually made me quite emotional in the emotional state I am in with trying to go off of pain meds. I guess it wasn't written specifically for me, but it feels like it. You can listen to the recording on his Sunday, October 28th Post titled
Heal My Soul
 http://rememberhymn.blogspot.com/

The Calm Before the Storm

Hurricane Sandy is on the Way

Today I am feeling so much better; no stomach thing going on so far today. So, now I'm not sure if it was a virus I may have caught from Ross or if I really was having trouble coming off the meds. I slept so much yesterday and most of the night until almost 5 am. Then I decided to get up to have coffee and turn the TV on to check out what's happening with Hurricane Sandy. 

By this afternoon it seems like Jersey is closing down. Some shore areas are being evacuated, the Governor issued a state of emergency, schools are closed for at least the next two days. Even though I wouldn't have been going anyway, we didn't have church. We have so many people in the church that are in areas that need to be evacuated or people need time for storm preparation. They're saying that this will be worse than Hurricane Irene last Fall. we don't get flooding at our house, but all around us there is flooding. Our house is up on a little bit of a hill so we don't get water, but we can see the park right behind our house where the brook usually floods and becomes a huge flowing river/lake. The neighbors right down the street usually get flooded. With these storms we may or may not have power. Last year we still had power so we were able to help neighbors who lost power. So far it's not cold here, but we do use wood heat therefore we don't have to worry about the furnace.

before Bob blew the leaves out today

 

Bob and I went on a walk this morning down to the park and through the woods at the end of our street and back home. It's really not very far, but I was getting so hot, tired and a bit shaky....it was rest time for me. Bob Went outside and blew all the leaves out of the yard after doing it all last Saturday also.

The park behind our house

Andrea, Hilda & Isabel Roman

This afternoon our friend Hilda Roman and her girls stopped by to bring food. The girls were very curious about my incision and wanted to know if I had gotten their cards from The Children's Ministry. Bob spent some time looking through the box of cards to try and find their cards and they were laughing about all the cute cards.

Yesterday I had a lot of visitors, unfortunately I wasn't feeling too good so I don't think I was very good company, but I was so encouraged by the visits anyway. Maria Stefanelli brought us some really good Italian food. Then Boris, Marlene and Lili came by and brought me a beautiful bouquet of pink roses. Of course that cute little little Lili can put a smile on anybody's face. She was getting a big quick out of my Noah's Ark App on my iPad, dancing and making cute sounds. I woke up thinking about the flowers and remembered that Marlene put them in a vase in the kitchen. I brought the flowers out to the dining room so I could see them from the couch. 


Marlene & Lili Petrovsky




Gorgeous roses from The Petrovsky's

From Roxanne & Mallory Felder

Later on Saturday I also I got an edible arrangement delivered from Roxanne & Mallory Felder who use to live next door. I'm assuming that they heard about my surgery from Bea who lives across the street from me and still sees them often since I haven't seen them for so long. That was such a thoughtful surprise. We ended up starting to eat it before I remembered that I wanted a photo. I'm so thankful for all the kindness I feel showered with; it's been so encouraging and so uplifting to have a couple people drop by every day. My day ended with a visit from a friend I hadn't seen in over a year. Alma dropped by on her way home from work, she called out of the blue because another friend told her I just had surgery. This has all been so interesting.

My follow-up appointment is Tuesday, although with the storm coming I'm not counting on it happening. If there's flooding like Hurricane Irene I won't be able to get to New Brunswick. I think I'm a bit overdue for getting the staples out. Dr. Tyagi only has office hours on Tuesdays; I don't think I can take another week of having the staples. I may see if I can get them out at my primary doctor's office that is close by. By the time I finished writing this post around 5pm I am feeling just terrible again. So, I'm back to thinking it's the withdrawal from the meds. We'll see if I can get away without taking anything tonight. I got very sick to my stomach so I did take the anti-nausea medication. I am also having unusual nerve sensations in my neck, face, arm and thighs and some pretty intense stiffness/tightness/tension in my neck and back. I wouldn't exactly call it pain, but it's getting close to it. I really don't want to take the other meds unless I just can't bear it.

Rough Day - Delicious Dinner

It's been over two weeks now since my surgery. I feel like it's been about one week and like it's going to take much longer than I was hoping to get back to regular daily activities. I didn't sleep so well last night; it was more because of not really being tired because I didn't seem to need any additional pain medication in the night. I took one Oxycotin before bed and that was it. So I got up before 6 this morning for my coffee and decided that if I'm not in pain that I should go off the Oxycodon and maybe I could get back to normal.

Manami came over so she could borrow my computer and we had lunch together. Her computer is broken so she used my laptop while she was here and now she has been writing cover letters for job applications on her iPhone. I have my iPad also so I'm glad to let her use it.

By late afternoon I started feeling really horrible. I was quite nauseous with some abdominal pain, but still no pain at the surgery site. Really the back of my head/my incision felt really stiff and tight; it was uncomfortable, but not painful. I also had a couple of emotional moments just when I was saying that  I'm still not feeling well. At this point after talking to a couple people and reading online I realized that these are withdrawal symptoms from stopping the Oxycodon. I did cut down from 2 to 1 tablet and not taking at night. I didn't think it was a problem coming off the meds, but I was thinking of the pain not withdrawal. When Bob got home I was feeling so awful that I was just trying to sleep and couldn't even bear having the TV on.  We read a little about the symptoms of withdrawal and that you should slowly go off the medication. Bob cut one of the Oxycodon tabs in half for me to take and I started feeling better and was able to eat a delicious meal that my friend Christina Donahue made. So glad I could enjoy a delicious meal of Chicken Cacciatore...delicious is an understatement....now that was some amazing comfort food!

Two weeks have passed

since decompression surgery

mini orchid from Marie Leslie

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my surgery. I feel like I have lost at least a week worth of time. I did think I would be up and about much more than I am, but still spending a great deal of time on the couch. I am improving each day, but I think I did expect that I would be pretty well recovered by now. I have tried to cut back on my meds I took my Oxycotin before bed last night; it's a 12 hour timed release. It was the first night that I didn't get up to take Percocet every 4 hours. When I got up this morning and realized that I hadn't needed more meds during the night I thought I'd try to go without any today. I made it until about 10:15 before I decided that I wasn't quite ready for that and one Percocet was an improvement over two. So of course I went ahead and had one at 2:30 and now at 6:30. My head was really hurting at the incision. When the meds wear off I can feel like a burning pain in my left jaw, my arm and shoulder/neck area and then into my left leg. These are some of the same places that I had problems before, although this is a bit different. I don't feel numbness, but it's more like a feeling that the muscles have been really fatigued, over worked and burn a bit. I feel like I've already said this before so I just looked back on the blog and of course I said something very similar on the last post. It's that brain mush going on again I guess.

Ross & Manami working the sound at the teen conference

Ross was here since yesterday until this afternoon. It turns out that he ate all kinds of food in New York when he was touring some out of town guests. He brought home a leftover pork chop and chicken from a Dominican restaurant in Washington Heights that may have been the culprit. He ate the pork chop on Tuesday afternoon and seems that he now has food poisoning. Let's hope it was food poisoning, because I sure don't need to be sick like that. He was here very sick all day Wednesday and left late this afternoon feeling much better. Of course he came home where the food and comfort are, so that Manami could take care of us both. She was sure to spend some time filling out applications for nursing positions as we both slept. I'm praying that with all the applications she's putting in that she will start getting some calls to come in for personal interviews. Manami went to the store for us and bought a few supplies and much needed Ginger ale and Gatorade for Ross's tummy. I wish I had a picture of Ross lying on one end of the couch and me lying on the other end with Manami sitting in the middle between us trying to comfort us both. What a doll! We love her so much!!!

I'm definitely ready to have the staples out, they feel like they are very raised. My right side seems like it has healed very nicely, but the left side is still sore and quite sensitive and seems a bit swollen still. I also have what seems to be maybe a swollen lymph node on the back of my neck on the right side. I don't think it's anything to be alarmed about, but I'm just watching out for signs of fever that may show an sign of infection. I will only be seeing Dr. Tyagi on Tuesday since it's the only day that she has office hours. If there's any problem, I won't hesitate to call and even go to the hospital. So far I think that although it takes time I am steadily getting better.

Bree & Dean

I'm so thankful for all the help and attention that I've received from Ross, Manami and Bob. I'm also so encouraged that Bree has called me almost everyday and for the sweet note I got from my son-in-law Dean. I also got a little package from Bree that Bob brought me at the hospital; they've both been so thoughtful.

yummy Scottish treats

My good friends Kelly Shirley and Marie Leslie dropped by on Tuesday and visited for a couple of hours. I sat up at the kitchen table and had a cup of tea for the first time since surgery, but I could only last about 20 minutes before I had to lay down. Marie brought me a beautiful little orchid and some Scottish treats that I have been enjoying since. Kelly brought dinner, some yummy comfort food - Chicken Tetrazinni - delicious! It was so good to have them here.

Family Night

 A Monday Night Family Tradition

We've always had family night on Mondays ever since our children were little. Now that we are empty-nesters Bob and I are able to spend so much time together everyday. It's so different than when we had to compete with so many other events that we had to make sure we didn't have plans that would interfere with spending time together on Mondays as a family. Of course Bree moved to Colorado after getting married to Dean over 4 years ago and we haven't had Monday night family time with her since she was in high school. Ross moved into his own apartment almost a year ago, he's off work on Mondays so he still makes it a point to come over almost every Monday for family night dinner. He likes to help me around the house, or go on a walk in the afternoon, then go to the driving range, down to the park with Bob and watch football or a movie. When he first moved into his apartment he would come over late afternoon on Mondays and we would cook together. I would buy all the ingredients to show him how to make one of our family favorite recipes and then send him home with the same ingredients and some of the pans or utensils he would need for prepping or cooking the recipe so he could duplicate it soon after. He has become quite a cook for a bachelor and does a great job with hospitality, having people over often for a meal.

Quite often Manami will join us for dinner also, but not every week. This week she came over in the early afternoon to help me and spend some time with me. We were able to talk while she sat on the floor next to the couch making a birthday card for her sister. Then we also went on a short walk down the street to the park behind our house and around the block. Ross got here much later because he was taking some teen leaders from Texas around New York before taking them to the airport. By the time he got here we had eaten dinner and were watching a movie.It was really encouraging to have Ross and Manami over even while I'm still recovering and not feeling my best.

Post-op 11 days/October 22nd

 I am doing better everyday, but it is going to take time. I'm still taking some pain medication, but have cut down. Mostly as the meds wear off about every four hours I start feeling pain in the area of the incision and my neck. I can only sit up or be up for small amounts of time before my body tells me that I really have to lie flat. I can lay on either side and right on the back of my head as long as the medication hasn't worn off. I can still dose a little during the day. I am sleeping much better, but waking up quite often when I have to use the bathroom, I need to turn over, or the medication wears off and I need another dose. I also go through about an hour of time every night between 3 and 4 that I am incredibly itchy all over. It about drives me crazy. I don't have a rash, but itchy everywhere; I don't know if it has something to do with the medication wearing off at that time or with possibly being a bit dehydrated so my skin is dry. When the medication wears off I can also have some pain in my neck, shoulder, and arm as well as an interesting sensation in the left side of my face. I had this same type of sensation before the surgery with more numbness. So when I quit taking all the medication I don't know if all of the symptoms will be gone or not. I'm thinking that if my nerves were compressed for so long that it may take some time for them to adjust now that the pressure has been relieved. It will be nice to get back to more normal activity and get off the meds so I can see what happens.

My Favorite Nurse

Manami

8 days post-op walk with my favorite nurse

As I said previously, I was discharged on Monday October 15th after having Posterior Fossa Decompression, my Cerebellar Tonsils shaved, and a bovine Duraplasty.

I really expected that Bob would work from home some, and that I would be able to manage on my own with having friends drop in here and there. In my fog I heard Bob and Manami, Ross's girlfriend, conspiring and she said that she could stay with me some during the week. I was too out of it to protest with any comments that I could handle things on my own as I thought. What I didn't expect was that Manami would stay here much of the first week.

After much hard work Manami recently received her nursing license. During the week she kept me company, helped me to keep track of and brought me my medicine, my food and water, read scriptures to me, encouraged me, etc... All the while she spent many hours writing nursing job applications and taking care of other personal things as well as spending time out at appointments here and there. I really didn't think that I would have such a need for help after the surgery. I'm so thankful that she has been so thoughtful and generous enough to serve me in this way. Just to have Manami sit quietly near me or in the kitchen working as I rest has been so comforting.

By Thursday I was up to going outside and taking a little walk. I really thought I'd be able to walk down the block to the end of our property and back, but we walk through the park behind the house and circled around to the road back to our house. It was a relatively short walk, but much longer than I expected. As we were out we chatted a few minutes with one of my neighbors who didn't know I was having surgery. When I started to tell her briefly about surgery and said that I had a malformation, she said..."it doesn't happen to be Chiari malformation does it?" I couldn't believe she had ever heard of Chiari. She said that she has a friend who also had the surgery recently. Wow! We did talk a few minutes about it, but I had to cut the conversation short to get back inside as I was feeling quite worn out by this time. I came back to the house exhausted and I think I slept for at least 2 hours. It was so nice to be outside on such a gorgeous fall day with all the beautiful colors, and a sunny 80 degrees.

Manami is going to be a fabulous nurse! 

Post-op 7 days/October 17th

Post-op 9 days/October 19th

My Friends: The Mature Women's Group

So pretty!

Bob went off to church yesterday and came home with a meal cooked by Diana Sutton and this beautiful, thoughtful gift from The Mature Women's Group. I didn't know that we have a group of women in the church that call themselves The Mature Women's Group, but I do know all these sweet, sweet women. I am just blown away by their thoughtfulness.  So many helpful and encouraging gifts in this basket!

Love the basket with cute felt owls!

So unexpected. I love it and love you! Thanks All!!!

My Kids

Central Jersey Church of Christ 
Children's Ministry

 After just getting home on Monday afternoon there was a knock on the door Tuesday morning. My friend Kari Amendo dropped in to bring me a box filled with cards from our Children's Ministry. I was so, so surprised. The children from infants through Pre-Teens and teachers each made me a get well card. What a way to melt my heart. I never would have thought that someone would help them to do this for me. Of course Kari and my other friend Wally Michelen were the ones who thought this up and made it all happen. The cards are so sweet, from the babies whose teachers made their cute little pop-up frog card, the 2 year olds with a little crayon scribble inside, to all the drawings, well-wishes and more expressive cards that the PreTeens made. These are some of the sweet cards that cracked me up.

This makes me feel terrific!

glad Matthew knows what will make the difference

Love this positive outlook...I think I have to hold onto this saying

Cute, cute, cute...hope I will be able to do more stuff than cooking

As I have mentioned and of course many of you know, Bob and I have been the Coordinators for our Children's Ministry for the past 2 years. We love what we do to serve the church, parents, and children. Bob plays music as the children come to Sunday school class to greet them. He plays violin or guitar and has a basket of instruments that the children can just take to join in with him. He also lets them try his violin; the smiles on their faces show you how thrilled they are. Bob also goes to the classes and plays music for the children as they sing along, march or just listen; they love it and always want to know where Dr. Bob is if they don't immediately see him in the morning.

future violinist

We have about 40 teachers and safety team members that make up our Children's Ministry team each Sunday. We rotate the teachers every 4 months so that we have a new group of teachers each session.





 I help to organize these rotations, order new curriculum every 3 months and work with the teachers and children to meet whatever needs there are at the time. We really enjoy working with the children especially now that we are empty-nesters. We see the impact that Children's Ministry and the teachers had on our own children's lives and we have a conviction about how important it is. I hope I will recover quickly and get back to them.

PreTeen Class

Being welcomed back by all the children - so sweet

so adorable!

Baby's frog card

Sweet Gifts & Thoughtful Visitors

half-eaten edible arrangement

Headmaster Steve Loy and friends from Rutgers Prep sent us an edidble arrangement while I was in the hospital. Thanks everyone! It looks like Ross and Bob really enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries and bananas. Guess the photo was an after thought.

box of love from my sweet Bree

Bob told most people who asked about visiting me that it would be best to wait. I was just in so much pain and couldn't keep my eyes open. I can barely recall my good friend Allison Jones visiting on Friday night. I love the scripture that she wrote in the card she gave me:  We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 Thanks Allie!

from the Beenes

Saturday morning my friend Lanetta Putnal stopped by. I think my eyes were crossing so much and I couldn't even speak enough to make sense, but I do appreciate it. Tommy and Connie Beene also visited on Saturday and I do know that Tommy and Bob were able to go have coffee while Connie got me through some waves of nausea and pain; so very thankful for them. connie brought me a really nice plant that I am going to try and keep alive.


Gordon Kienast also took the bus to come and visit and share some encouragement with me; I'm so grateful for his heart and love for people.

Sunday Tom and Karen Messina visited for awhile and I was doing much, much better by that time. Karen gave me a card with scriptures to encourage me on the Wednesday before surgery. I only rediscovered the card in my bible since coming home from the hospital and have read the scriptures a few times since.

From Wally

Wally Michelen also stopped by to encourage me and bring me these adorable Vera Bradley gifts.

stained glass  pumpkin

Kelly Shirley brought me a few supplies from the store and an adorable stained glass pumpkin to hang in the window.

From Sylvia

My friend Sylvia Bridges just stopped by yesterday with a bag of helpful gifts including lip balm and fluffy pink fleece pjs. *Love* And this adorable card:

*tender loving prayer

I have had so many friends and neighbors stopping by with meals and desserts and sitting to visit for awhile. We are so grateful for all the calls, emails, cards, visits. It's really helping us both to stay positive and encouraged to get through this time.

Going Home

Wasn't sure I was ready

poked & labelled everywhere

Dr. Tyagi released me on Monday morning. I knew it was a possibility, but it all happened much sooner than I had expected.

It was good to have a little talk with Dr. Tyagi and to know that she felt confident that I was ready to go home and that I'd do so much better to get rest at home. I had been so sick since the surgery on Thursday that it was hard to imagine just the night before that I would be able to tolerate riding home in the car. I was so nauseous that I hadn't been able to keep anything down and just moving my head a little bit would cause such stabbing pain. When I was able to ask her a couple of questions and understand more about what medications I'd be taking I felt better about it all. She said I could go ahead and shower and that it was fine to shampoo my hair. No problem with water running over the incision - wow, I was so surprised by this. By this time I was feeling rather grimy and even though I wasn't so sure about taking a shower at the hospital I couldn't wait to get cleaned up at this point. Remember all the gel like antiseptic glue I had in my hair? It felt so good to shower, but it was a huge effort and then I was just so exhausted.

I had told Bob to go on to work since he was out on Thursday and Friday and I didn't know when or if they would release me. Dr. Tyagi's colleague told me on Sunday that if I was released Monday it would probably not be until around 4 pm. When I found out I could go we decided that since Ross was off work and already coming to see me that he could bring me home and Bob could meet us at home. I felt great about having Ross pick me up and I know he had been asking if he could help by picking me up from the hospital.

Ross helped me to pack up and get ready while my prescriptions and discharge papers were being completed. My friend Tiffany Morris showed up right then with suitcase in hand. I asked her if she was planning on staying. She was on the way to the airport to go on a business trip and stopped in on her way there. Tiffany waited with us until I was discharged and the valet brought Ross's car and then we were able to drop her off at the train station on our way. It was a little rough driving home with every bump and the motion. I would say that some of the nauseous feeling comes from motion.

When we got home Manami came right away to help out. She helped us with getting dinner and my medications. Ross always comes for dinner on Monday nights and sometimes Manami also comes over; we love to spend time with them. What I didn't know was that Bob asked Manami if she had time to stay with me some during my first week home. She's not working, but is busy putting in applications for nursing jobs since getting her license and she said she could work on that here. I really didn't know that I would need someone with me, but I'm so grateful for her company and for how she thoughtfully took care of me. She helped me stay on track with my medication, getting me meals, giving advise, sat quietly while I slept and kept me encouraged through the week. It was such a blessing to have her here. Some of my friends from my church have been bringing meals on a daily basis and I think I have people lined up to bring meals everyday next week. I'm so grateful for all the support.

5 days post-op

 The first two nights home were pretty rough during the night, but that is getting better by the day. My medicine wears off in the middle of the night and It also is making me very, very itchy. I am still having trouble eating; I can only eat very small amounts of soft food. Oh....the most important thing I have found that I need since being home.....A STRAW! It's hard to swallow, but it's even harder to lean my head back to drink out of a glass...a straw is a lifesaver! I could have also used a back scratcher. Lip balm is also a necessity. I didn't really care about anything I packed for the hospital except for my Burt's Bees lip balm. I didn't know how much I would need a straw until I got home since they automatically give you a drink with a straw at the hospital.

screw hole/lump

I also have a painful lump on my left temple where they obviously screwed down some type of clamp onto my head to keep it still....ouch!  It's a bit hard to see from the photo, but maybe you can get the idea. Basically I'm cut, bruised, and poked all over the place; sure hope it will all be worth it in the end.

Hospital Post-Op

I knew it was going to be rough, but rough is an understatement

Thursday, the first night after my surgery was excruciating. I couldn't keep my eyes open and the pain was quite intense; I couldn't even pick up my head. I could administer morphine by a button as needed, but I was so out of it and in so much pain that the nurses even had to help me do that. I found out that I didn't have to go to ICU because my vitals were good, but it was hard to believe that I could be in a regular room when I had so much pain. It was a relief to be out of surgery, but felt like I was being stabbed all over my head by a huge sharp knife.

Manami ordering my dinner, which I couldn't eat :-(

Ross and Bob were with me and then Manami came by, but I felt like I couldn't even focus to see her. She says I was actually communicating pretty well, but I really can't remember it.

Thursday through Sunday were pretty rough days. The pain was extremely intense and I couldn't hold down any food or anything I drank. One of the nurses, Virginia realized on Saturday that I was probably also having caffeine withdrawal since I usually have a big cup of coffee every morning and then a couple of diet Cokes in the afternoon. When she gave me something with caffeine it did improve slightly. bob did ask people not to visit because I was having such a hard time, but I did have a couple of visitors and was thankful to see them.

Nurses Virginia & Rowena

Ludlow & Alyssa

I wish I had more photos of all of the nurses and techs that helped me. I appreciated them so much; they were always so kind and helpful. I wasn't able to focus my eyes/mind on my phone camera until Monday.

Dr. Tyagi

Friday morning Dr. Tyagi visited me and explained how everything went. She had already explained it all to Bob and Ross and Bob told me, but I had a hard time remembering. She said that she did a craniectomy around the posterier fossa, she removed some of the Dura (covering of the brain) and then could see that my brain was pressed right up against the bone and the cerebral spinal fluid was obstructed so she also shaved the cerebellar tonsils to give more room. This would help the flow of fluid not to be obstructed and the nerves to be decompressed. She said that not only was the cerebral spinal fluid obstructed, but that the cerebellar tonsils also showed evidence of compression. This was actually really good to hear since even though the herniation was shown on my MRI it wasn't as evident that the flow was obstructed. It was good to hear that there was real evidence that supported the need for surgery and that could mean that my symptoms may have continued to progress to even a worse state.

Does this look like a woman who is up to physical therapy?

 Friday they already drug me out of bed to go to physical therapy even though I resisted. It was a major effort just to lift my head and sit up. They said that they needed to do physical therapy before I could be released and that the physical therapy staff didn't work on the weekend. Just to sit was enough and then they had me get up, walk across the floor, go up and down a couple of steps and step in and out of a bathtub. Then I had to do arm and leg lifts. You can't imagine how challenging this was. Then it was time for a nap.

from Tommy & Connie Beene

Saturday was once again quite challenging with pain control and trying to keep anything down. I had a few visitors, but could hardly speak to them. Appreciate it so much though. One of Dr. Tyagi's associates came by and removed my bandage and of course I wanted to see what it looked like right away. I also had Bob count my staples - 19 of them. Wow! So good to see that Dr. Tyagi only had a small strip of my hair shaved right down the middle of the back of my head. I had seen so many pictures of people who had the whole bottom half of their head shaved. So here it goes....are you ready? You gotta help me out by feelin' a little of my pain. :-)

19 staples does look like a zipper!

 

 

 

By the way my hair was plastered to the sides away from the incision area by antiseptic glue. On Monday Dr.Tyagi released me to go home and said I could shower and wash my hair like normal. I tried getting all that glue out, but it's going to take a couple of shampoos.

guess they had trouble finding a vein