Kris, Dave and the Lumps; Tram Flap Prep

Wednesday 1-Oct-2008
Took Kris in to the Avista Surgery center (which is attached to the plastic surgeons office) for the Tram Flap preparation at 0930. The nurse read me the riot act when she realized that I was planning on going back to work that night and just about got to where she was going to write a note. I called in and Barry was very supportive. They gave us a pair of stockings Kris has to wear for 48 hours. They are support stockings designed to increase blood pressure by keeping pressure on your legs and as you may well imagine, are quite tight! They also said that after the procedure she is to keep ice on the wounds for 48 hours solid! She is to walk every other hour to help prevent blood clots. They asked after her pain medications and we revealed we have some Darvocet left over from the last surgery and plan on using that... half pills. Kris is a light weight. :)

Kris and the nurse ordered me off for breakfast so that I'd be up to watching her for the rest of the day when the procedure was done. The procedure went like clockwork. Dr. Kuisle seemed quite pleased with the results. At about 2 pm we were sent home with a couple of ice bags and instructions on their care and maintenance. I was told to watch her closely until the anaesthetics wore off... so, I did.

We got home, settled in front of the tube and both of us fell asleep for about a half hour. Kris got up (which woke me up) and trundled about, she seemed stable enough so I just listened and kept 'resting' as much as I could until she was ready to go downstairs and watch some shows we had recorded. Sometime after 9 pm I got up and ordered Kris to bed. :)

Thursday 2-Oct-2008
Kris is doing well enough. She's up and about but, in more pain than she might wish for. She's decided to take a half a Darvocet every 2 and a half to 3 hours. I advocated for every 2 hours to get on top of the pain. Coincidentally a nurse called about this time and agreed with me. Just for the sake of information, her prescription calls for up to 2 pills every 4 hours. If she were on that schedule, she'd take a half a pill every hour... so, she's really undercutting her prescription! Oh, she's also eating real food, which is good. Nausea right now would be a bad thing since her abdominal muscles are tender due to the surgery.

Friday 3-Oct-2008
Things were doing fine until she tried to juggle her ice bag and a bottle of water while navigating the stairs and one foot slip. She didn't fall, but, catching herself she used her stomach muscles and.. well, it hurt. Now, she's looking forward to her pain medications every 2 hours and I blame the near fall. She's also off the ice now (and happy for it) and has taken her first shower. The wound looks pretty good. I don't think there will be much, if any, scarring. Dr. Kuisle seems to have done a bang up job. The shower was a bit scary in that she got light headed and looked about to pass out. I was quite concerned and sent her off to bed. She was asking why it was and I pointed out that she'd just taken off the stockings from the Inquisition and her Blood Pressure had probably plummeted in response. This was about 2 pm and she laid their for a while and was feeling much better when I trundled off to work.