Does anyone even read this thing anymore?
sooo.... STRESS STRESS EMO SHIT STRESS DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah. As most of you may know, Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 06 and had a radical mastectomy done in November. (In layman's terms, they lopped her right boob off.) So she tried just using a prosthetic breast for a while and while it had a lot of comic potential (she had to put it in the freezer when not wearing it and I would have LOVED to have seen the look on one of my little brother's friends' faces as they reached in to get something and there was a big, gel, boob in the freezer, complete w/ nipple.), she decided it was very uncomfortable and made her feel very self-conscious wearing it.
So last summer she decided to have a breast reconstruction and was very excited because her surgeon is from Beverly Hills. All together now, "OOOOOHHHH.....AAAAHHHHH." My first questions was, "If he's good enough for Beverly Hills, what the hell is he doing in Wasilla, AK??" But I digress..
She had a small operation to put an empty saline implant under the skin and went in every couple of weeks to have it filled up a little at a time so the skin could stretch out. On December 28, 2007 Mom went in for the BIG operation. They prepped her right chest wall for the full implant by taking fat from her abdomen and moving up to support the implant when it went in (not until the next surgery.) They also 'perked up' the left side a bit so her breasts would match. They moved the fat under the skin so she wouldn't look like she'd been autopsied when they were done. They only made an incision over her naval, which I gather looks a bit like a cesarean incision and afterward her naval looked like a big hole. They put gauze in it and told her to change the bandages daily or whenever needed (whichever came first) and to rinse it with a saline solution.
The surgery itself became pretty scary as it was only supposed to be 4-6 hours and lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes. She was also supposed to be in the hospital afterward for 3-4 days and was there over a week and needed a blood transfusion. The doctor was slightly worried about a possible post-op infection and so gave her a course of antibiotics.
She went home and we thought everything was fine until she noticed the incision site at her abdomen was not healing and it was draining quite a bit. It was also inflamed and had an oder. She went back in and found out that she has MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a type of 'superbug' that is resistant to most antibiotics. To give you all some context, this infection is only a step below Necrotizing Fasciitus, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria. The infection has spread below the stitches on her abdomen so far that the nurse could almost put a cotton swab in a hole on one side and to the other. It's very scary stuff.
I fell very lucky/blessed/fortunate that I work at a medical clinic and am very good friends with a brilliant LPN there who is in charge of keeping track of all the patients that come in for treatment of MRSA. I sent all the info I could glean off my friend to Mom along with a list of questions and suggestions for her doctor. Now whenever I call her she tell people, "I have to take this, my nurse is on the phone." Makes me feel a lot better that I can at least get her some information instead of sitting on my hands, being worried.
Anyway... that's about it. Some good news is that James for a job working for the Tacoma Grainery as a grain sampler and will soon become a grain technician.
Charlie is doing great in her occupation therapy and will start speech therapy tomorrow.
I'm doing ok at the same job, but might be looking to apply elsewhere soon. Mainly because of some differences of opinion with my manager over the policies and patient care.
I'll probably try and keep this updated, especially where Mom is concerned. I know there aren't a lot of people out there reading this who know my mom, but updating this will be mainly for my benefit anyway.
Love you all.
-Sarah
Yeah. As most of you may know, Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 06 and had a radical mastectomy done in November. (In layman's terms, they lopped her right boob off.) So she tried just using a prosthetic breast for a while and while it had a lot of comic potential (she had to put it in the freezer when not wearing it and I would have LOVED to have seen the look on one of my little brother's friends' faces as they reached in to get something and there was a big, gel, boob in the freezer, complete w/ nipple.), she decided it was very uncomfortable and made her feel very self-conscious wearing it.
So last summer she decided to have a breast reconstruction and was very excited because her surgeon is from Beverly Hills. All together now, "OOOOOHHHH.....AAAAHHHHH." My first questions was, "If he's good enough for Beverly Hills, what the hell is he doing in Wasilla, AK??" But I digress..
She had a small operation to put an empty saline implant under the skin and went in every couple of weeks to have it filled up a little at a time so the skin could stretch out. On December 28, 2007 Mom went in for the BIG operation. They prepped her right chest wall for the full implant by taking fat from her abdomen and moving up to support the implant when it went in (not until the next surgery.) They also 'perked up' the left side a bit so her breasts would match. They moved the fat under the skin so she wouldn't look like she'd been autopsied when they were done. They only made an incision over her naval, which I gather looks a bit like a cesarean incision and afterward her naval looked like a big hole. They put gauze in it and told her to change the bandages daily or whenever needed (whichever came first) and to rinse it with a saline solution.
The surgery itself became pretty scary as it was only supposed to be 4-6 hours and lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes. She was also supposed to be in the hospital afterward for 3-4 days and was there over a week and needed a blood transfusion. The doctor was slightly worried about a possible post-op infection and so gave her a course of antibiotics.
She went home and we thought everything was fine until she noticed the incision site at her abdomen was not healing and it was draining quite a bit. It was also inflamed and had an oder. She went back in and found out that she has MRSA or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a type of 'superbug' that is resistant to most antibiotics. To give you all some context, this infection is only a step below Necrotizing Fasciitus, commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria. The infection has spread below the stitches on her abdomen so far that the nurse could almost put a cotton swab in a hole on one side and to the other. It's very scary stuff.
I fell very lucky/blessed/fortunate that I work at a medical clinic and am very good friends with a brilliant LPN there who is in charge of keeping track of all the patients that come in for treatment of MRSA. I sent all the info I could glean off my friend to Mom along with a list of questions and suggestions for her doctor. Now whenever I call her she tell people, "I have to take this, my nurse is on the phone." Makes me feel a lot better that I can at least get her some information instead of sitting on my hands, being worried.
Anyway... that's about it. Some good news is that James for a job working for the Tacoma Grainery as a grain sampler and will soon become a grain technician.
Charlie is doing great in her occupation therapy and will start speech therapy tomorrow.
I'm doing ok at the same job, but might be looking to apply elsewhere soon. Mainly because of some differences of opinion with my manager over the policies and patient care.
I'll probably try and keep this updated, especially where Mom is concerned. I know there aren't a lot of people out there reading this who know my mom, but updating this will be mainly for my benefit anyway.
Love you all.
-Sarah