I have not posted much these past few days as my progress has been a bit discouraging. I have had a number of ups and downs and may have pushed myself too hard that first week home.
One of the most irritating things has been that I cannot tolerate any sort of direct contact between my incision area and my clothing. This makes it difficult to get dressed sufficiently warmly to go out and walk. The pressure of a jacket and scarf on the incision area is so uncomfortable that I have been disinclined to go out much at all. Around the house I keep my shirt open most of the time. I have taken to going up and down the stairs multiple times a day to get in some “walking” exercise.
The good news is that the incision seems to be healing up nicely. There have been no signs of infection or other problems. I am very thankful to the Lord for that! Back in 1993 when I had an emergency appendectomy I did not fare so well. Two weeks after the surgery I developed two abscesses deep under the incision area. First came fever and chills – then localized intense pain. The surgeon put me on an an antibiotic and sent me in to the hospital to get the abscesses drained. That was done with the assistance of ultrasound and a long needle and was one of my more painful (memorable?) medical experiences. So I am delighted that there seems to be no evidence of that sort of thing this go around.
On Tuesday evening our CareGroup did some caroling, visiting a number of homes before finally coming to our place and finishing off here with singing, hot spiced cranberry-apple and goodies and then a time of prayer together. Once again this group has been an encouragement and blessing to us. What a privilege to be part of this smaller representation of the Church.