One more week, one more visit to the handsome doctor! And again, he seemed very pleased with his handiwork! Always good to hear!

I kind of overdid it (surprise!!) the day before - moved some heavy furniture so I could lay down some carpet. (and then took a four hour nap!) But that meant my drain bags were fuller than usual, and bloodier than usual, so I really expected that he'd tell me I needed to keep them for another week. Bless his sweet smile, he pulled them out without an argument!

What a difference that makes in how I feel - freedom! Except for the hospital corset - I get to keep wearing that for about 6 more weeks. That I can live with.

Interesting minor debate while taking the drains out - my doc took out the one on the right, and his nurse (obviously top notch - she's been with him every time I've seen him) pulled the one on the left.

Since this wasn't my first experience with the drain bags, I'm used to the instruction "take a deep breath, and blow it out hard" - and of course that's when they yank out the couple feet of drain tubing - and no matter how I try not to, I still flinch, 'cause it feels so weird to have the thing that feels the size of a garden hose pulled out from my body. My doctor just said "take a deep breath" and as I was drawing in the breath, he yanked the thing out. I didn't feel it. And I was watching! That brought up a discussion and an agreement to try both and get more comments, in hopes of lessening any discomfort for the patient! Good for them - nice to see that they do care!

I get to see the doc again in two weeks, but it looks like about six months before anymore work is done on me. Clothes will again be fun - one young teenage boob up high on my chest, and the other old bag hanging down around my belly button. I'll create a new style!

Speaking of belly buttons - I asked why he had to go in thru my belly button to do ... whatever. Turns out he didn't go thru it. After he carved up my lower belly, doing the TRAM-flap work, they pull the belly skin down to attach over what they had removed. That meant the belly button would be way down around the pubis. That would definitely look odd (as if anyone is going to look at me again). So he removed the belly button and moved it back up to 'where it belonged'!

That created one of those little 'aha' moments - I've been looking at my poor beat up belly button, thinking it was in the wrong place. Put it down to how swollen I still am, yada yada yada. Now I know! He really didn't get it back in the right spot - exactly. I've been looking at it for more years than I want to acknowledge, so I could have told him where to put it, but no one thought to ask me! :o)

And all that certainly explains why everything hurts so damn much. Actually, in truth, I'm doing waaaaaaaaaay better. It's just that everything I do wears me out completely. Pulled some weeds today, after a rain storm blew thru here last night. Figured the weeds would be more cooperative. Wrong - not as much rain as it seemed - the ground itself was still dry and the weeds fought back. And then I took a three hour nap. It's taking so long to get my strength back - so frustrating!

Also, girlfriend Lizzie has returned to Vegas in hopes of getting her busted shoulder looked at by some professionals. Bless her heart, she wanted to stay with me to help me out, but since between us we barely had one whole body, I finally convinced her to go take care of herself! Busted bones can be bad if not treated properly, so we're hoping for the best!