Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy

Ok, lots of catching up to do:

Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle. He was pleased with the lack of edema in the reconstructed breast. We noted that Kris had been squeezing it as directed and Dale had done lymph-edema work on it Monday. With that, he decided to leave the drain where it was, and said he'd remove it as a Thanksgiving day present.

We also went for our infusion of Herceptin and saw Dr. Moran. He confirmed that it's ok for Kris to have her flu shot, in fact he wants her to have it. He also increased her dosage of Warfarin as her 'I and R' got a tidge low at 1.2. He also took a look at her scars and reconstruction and generally gave his approval. I think I can quote him as saying 'that's the best looking 2 foot scar I've seen!' Which will give you a reference as to the size of Kris abdominal scar! She talked with him about returning to work and Dr. Moran is of the opinion that going back now would be pushing it. In no small part this is due to the simple fact that work at IBM is not something that can be done in 40 hour weeks. :)

Kris talked with her manager during the infusion and relayed with Dr. Moran had said. They decided that going to work this year might well be pushing things too hard. We'll still play it by ear since the question of going back part time is still on the table but, I think she has settled on starting work First of Jan.

Monday, 17-Nov-2008
Physical Therapy with Dale went smoothly. She did what she calls 'lymph-edema' work because Kris has a decent amount of fluid on the reconstructed breast. This work was trying to get the local tissue to use the lymphatic channels to remove fluid... specifically, the old channels that the new breast won't be used to yet... since the tissue came from her stomach area. Dale is actually quite impressed with Kris' progress with physical therapy and gave her some new stretches to perform... which are fun to watch. :)

Friday, 14-Nov-2008
Ok, details are fuzzy from here back but, she saw Dale and things went well with physical therapy.

Met with Dr. Kuisly afterwards and he removed all of the stitches, pulled out Kris drain a bit, then restitched the drain. He squeezed out what fluid he could, and instructed Kris to continue squeezing it as she can stand.

On a personal note, the site of the edema is quite hard which is disconcerting because the tumor she had two years ago was hard. All of the Dr.s agree that it's just edema but, I can't help but be concerned. :/

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Physical Therapy and followup

Wednesday, 5-Nov-2008
Physical therapy with Dale. Actually, this first round was really just meet and greet with evaluation. She set some ground rules and sent us off with some tape that she wanted Kris to test out on her arm. The tape is to help scar tissue to heal so that it leaves little or no mark. The test run was due to the fact that Kris is quite sensitive to tape products on her skin. Fortunately, she reacted very well to the tape, which was mildly surprising.

After the appointment with Dale, we saw Dr. Kuisle following up on the installation of the small drain. Things are looking good. He asked for us to come back Monday, at which time we expect him to remove all of the stitches save the drain and stitches for it. He will back the drain out a bit at that time.

Friday, 7-Nov-2008
Met with Dale again and went through some gentle physical therapy, more like massage than anything else. She taped up the scar from the Tram flap (Kris belly basically) and gave us information on Lymph edema. This last is a concern since Kris has lost most of the Lymph nodes for her left arm. Which means that some of it's drainage has been removed.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Kris, Dave and the Lumps: Post Surgery

I forgot to mention something because I wasn't able to attend one of Kris' appointments with Dr. Moran. The gist of the message I've already said earlier but, I wanted to report what Dr. Moran had to say about the Tissue removed. He said that they could hardly find any cancer in the tissue removed which is very good news!

Monday, 10-Nov-2008
Met with Dr. Kuisle to check on Kris' recovery since having the dead tissue removed. The wound has been seeping a little and he noted more fluid than he likes, so, he removed two stitches and installed a drain. He said they would gradually pull out the drain and remove it as they went. This way the cavity will collapse and heal around the end of the drain. He also prescribed another round of Anti-Biotics. Downside is Kris needs a lot of gauze to soak up the fluid. The wound actually looks good other than this.

Kris also called to get enrolled on my insurance while she's on long term disability. It was another example of the definition of 'bureaucratic nightmare' but, she's on my insurance now and things should be good to go... ok, things will be good to go but, she only gets on my insurance Wednesday the 4th! Nothing like increasing the stress for folks who are trying to heal! :/

Despite all of this, Kris' spirits are up and we are moving along. She will begin Physical Therapy Wednesday the 4th and hopes to be back to work by end of November. Me? I'm just being selfish and enjoying the fact that when I get home, she's able to greet me. :)