Trying times

I've been MIA for some time. There are many reasons ranging from mental to medical. I don't care to discuss the mental right now, so we'll talk medical.

In the past year, I've had six, SIX surgeries. I don't blame my surgeon(s)...I blame my lame body. I don't heal well. For the past two months, I knew something was wrong but delayed seeking a medical opinion because I was 99% sure it would involve yet another surgical procedure. I started with my PCP who found "inflamation" and punted me to the plastic surgeon who operated and put me back on the wound vac. Fun. He insisted that there was no new hernia and suggested I see my bypass surgeon. Evil insurance took way too long to approve a CT scan so we ended up going to the ER this past Monday. This resulted in an overnight stay with lots of IV Dilaudid.

Results? Large ventral hernia...again. The good news is that it is "big enough to drive a truck through" which translates into it is unlikely any bowel will strangulate. Yeah. Pain? Hellish.

Punted to NEW plastic surgeon who gave me four options for repair: do nothing, repair with mesh, repair with pig mesh, or total abdominal rebuild. BTDT with mesh and have no desire to have any part of a pig placed in my belly. Doing nothing would mean pain control and I need to live my life wide open. So, we are opting for total abdominal rebuild. Not a tummy tuck, but a wide open procedure where they pull good muscle together to reinforce said belly. It will be an awful painful recovery...but I have to look ahead to summer...to working again.

Our appointment with the new plastics surgeon is today and hope to at least walk away with an approximate surgical date. They have to coordinate the surgery with my Bypass surgeon because he has to be present to make sure everything is A-ok in there.

Because the Gods didn't feel that I had been through enough, the CT showed a mass on one of my ovaries. Thanks for that. That will be addressed in six weeks with an ultrasound. Gyn Surgeon is aggressive and said if it is still there, she wants to remove it. Nope, can't do it in conjunction with my non-tummy tuck...so possibly another surgery is coming. Thanks again.

Lilliput is kicking butt in first grade. Math appears to be her favorite subject but she aces every spelling test and reads everything she can get her hands on. Her taste in TV has moved from Sprout and Nick to Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, The Jetsons...makes me feel a little better.

I keep busy looking for a job and reading. Our king-size bed has become my home within my home. David moved upstairs because he hates this mattress. This means my bed has become my desk, mail depot and cat bed. As long as Moe stays on one square inch in the top right, Mabel will allow him on the bed. If he moves anywhere close to her, she immediately wakes and gives him the old lady smack down. She's so cranky these days.

I've become addicted to Discovery ID. I'm sick of the news. I still watch it because I have to know what's going on...but I discovered that I was becoming increasingly angry when I watched too much news.

I will end here. I will try to share a few books I'm reading right now. They are helping me cope with all the crappy things going on in my life...and making me look at the good and precious things and people that surround me.

Peace.