Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 28 Dec 12 - 06:43 PM Keep on that healing, strengthening track! While I was on that last nursing home stay, laid up, some powerful people began to come to our aid on the insurance end. One of the results has been help from "Ms. Ashley"-- a breathtakingly brilliant woman in the health advocacy organization with whom our denomination contracts to help untangle pesky insurance issues. As I get stronger, news about efforts to get back to normal activities (i.e. starting to live out some of the benefits of this surgery) are in other, topic-appropriate threads. But in this one, I will now focus on updates about a big insurance appeal now underway. In the days after the surgery, my handy cellphone recorded graphic examples of what went wrong and what went well. I just emailed three of the most powerful photos to Ashley-- to support the medical records forthcoming from the hospital that took care of me after the surgeon messed me up. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: KT Date: 27 Dec 12 - 03:45 PM So glad to know you're home, Susan! Keep on that healing, strengthening track! Sending good thoughts your way... KT |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Dec 12 - 02:55 PM SiS, yeah! The surgery was reconstructive to correct damage done thru a lifetime of untreated hypothyroidism....(Three hundred fifty three POUNDS of untreated thyroid disease....). It was life-saving in other ways, but THAT was my motivation to agree to DO it. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 27 Dec 12 - 10:35 AM untreated or improperly treated thyroid is a major problem. |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Dec 12 - 09:49 AM OK. I just gotta get this one off my chest. === I did not undergo this surgery for weight loss, though weight loss was a byproduct-- heck they took 37 pounds off my front. But I do think of this time with the complications as "time served," where I am earning that weight loss with as much hard work as a bypass might have involved. And I do-- of course-- like the more svelte shape that is emerging with the loss from the thyroid meds working. So after all this I can wear the 3x's I had given my husband when I could no longer wear them, and putting THOSE on is funfunfun-- because I know that I will be able to shop in stores once I am off HHS, not catalog. I do not mind my 6x tropical shirts being so baggy-- I can wear sweatshirts under them and it's COLD now. I do not mind my 4x jeans trying to fall off when I walk. But I did find it REALLY IRONIC that in the hospital and nursing home, their gown sizes went as far as 3x with sleeves too tight for comfort-- then the next size was TEN X!!! So I have been swimming in gowns big enough to make a sail to make Fiji. The various Laundry Dept. workers who brought me several of these voluminous piles of fabric, daily, assured me that the very-thin, over-worn, ties-gone gowns should be pitched. I culled my way thru a lot of bum gowns in the 6 weeks I spent at the Home. But I couldn't stand the waste-- and they have no sewing department. So I cut the ties off the worst of them to repair the best, with my little camping sewing kit, and sent them back to Laundry to be part of regular stock..... And I saved a few of the thin, now-tieless ones to use at home as robes. And they are very damn handy to wear for dressing changes! :~) === I feel better. I am also taking daily pix of the slimming Susan as I work my way thru a closet full of items on their way to the seamstress. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 26 Dec 12 - 08:32 PM While I OTOH have gained a lap but doggeh no-can-sit-there. Wounds healing, with ouchies. No paws allowed! :~) ~Susan |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 26 Dec 12 - 08:27 PM I posted something witty about not having much of a lap - maybe the Mudcat Witty Post Detector didn't find it witty!! |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Bobert Date: 26 Dec 12 - 07:51 PM Laps and dogs are like toast and jam... B~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Dec 12 - 07:43 PM There's nothing like a happy dog who wants to hang out in your company to really feel like you're home. SRS |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Dec 12 - 10:18 PM Rest, eh? Wal, that mini-Sick Bay I set up? Napping heaven. And room for the dog's bed right beside my chair. Faulkner seems to be 5 years younger all of a sudden, having his whole pack, whole, again. Oh I had come and gone a number of times to pick up or drop things off, but it took an overnight to convince him that I am really HERE. That, and watching me unpack, helped him a lot. As long as I gotta be housebound, BTW, I will be making a montage of some of the details. The support here has been so important. Thanks, friends. From here it is a whole new planet, so please stay close as I encounter new weirdities. Like.... the day I discovered, for the first time in... more than 20 years... I have a LAP! What IS that?!?!?!? Oh-- it HOLDS things! A LAPtop!?!?!?!? Who knew?!?!?! ~Susan |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Charmion Date: 25 Dec 12 - 09:56 PM Glad to hear you're home and doing better, Susan. Heal, girl, heal! |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Bobert Date: 25 Dec 12 - 09:24 PM Ol' hillbilly wishing you the speediest of recoveries and feeling good for the next 20 years... Not even a case of the sniffles... Speakin' of which... ...sniff... B~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Dec 12 - 09:19 PM don't forget to rest! Merry Christmas to you & wishing you a health-filled New Year sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Dec 12 - 05:02 PM The items turned up as I had hoped they might. (A casualty of too-fast packing when discharge hour suddenly became another Insurance Battle hour, ydy.) I am almost unpacked. The three large boxes/hampers in front of my recliner are now only two, and I have a load of wash going. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Dec 12 - 11:01 AM Not staff. :~) I trust them with my life, AND my earthly goods. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Dec 12 - 04:04 AM Theft in nursing homes and hospitals is, alas, commonplace. One wonders at the management of such places and how they screen their staff who leave with laptops and jewelry and trinkets at the end of the day. SRS |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Dec 12 - 03:37 AM Home! Many new planets involved. Ramp done and wonderful! One of the wounds that was not bleeding.... is... ??? A third item of my personal stuff is now missing. Hm.... ~Susan |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 22 Dec 12 - 01:03 PM I go home Monday late afternoon. A wonderful step forward is that two of the three "wounds" that were being dressed and taped twice a day are now only getting a light skim of A&D ointment-- no gauze, no pads, NO TAPE. They are the two on the front of my abdomen, which is the area that has been under tape since Sept. 13. The skin just plumb wore out from the adhesive and the removal rips. Now, my house is not at all sanitary and these rtwo areas do need some protection, so I will probably resume light dressings once home-- but in the meantime that pore ole skin is getting some healing time, to stand it. One of the nurses came up with a much smaller dressing for the small incision on my hip where the soccer-ball-sized abscess was, under the skin. Think of it as a 4 x 4 bandaid. So it takes much less time to change that one-- and a LOT less tape all over my hip and leg. The contractor finished the ramp yesterday. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT! ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Dec 12 - 07:24 AM patiently awaiting your next post sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Dec 12 - 10:49 AM I was just informed that I'll get a new roomie today so internet time will probably decrease markedly-- I was using her tray table for a laptop desk and her outlet to charge it! :~) Posting from my phone is too tiring.... ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Dec 12 - 09:50 PM It's quite a deep and wide sill-- a bay window-- but you know cats must take 20 inches when there are 18! :~) I do have a rubber mat I can put under the oil lamp... when I get home. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 17 Dec 12 - 08:37 PM back in the dim past when I had a cat, she thought the windowsills were cat walks & I thought they were pot plant stands ... I eventually taped the pot plants to the window! enjoy your sunny windowsill sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Dec 12 - 04:49 PM PS the friend is a priest, so of course we "prayed the new space in," in style-- she left my Prayer Book/Bible marked where she'd led this from, waiting for me in the sunny windowsill that will be my chairside "table." Near the glass oil lamp that will remind me that it never really has to be dark. I hope the cats don't knock it off and break it.... ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Dec 12 - 04:45 PM Susan, you could write a book! Yes, but then they would have to kill me. :~) I did start the Sick Bay today, thanks to a friend and her partner who drove an hour to help me for two hours. I left myself only the lightest of tasks to make it pretty and shiny-clean-- about as much as I already do each day at the "Home." We then stopped at a couple of banks to move some money around for ramp construction and give the contractor his LumberBucks. Just in time, too-- snow and the hard freeze look to arrive this weekend. I also took a few items home so that on departure day there is not so much STUFF someone will have to tote and I will have to put away. Upon return to the "Home," I started packing those clean, freshly laundered items I will need at home which are no longer needed here. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 17 Dec 12 - 07:18 AM someone somewhere said sticking-out belly buttons are the most chic - I wonder where off-centre belly buttons come in the scheme of things. Susan, you could write a book! sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Dec 12 - 05:30 AM Did I mention the two hernia repairs (which the pre-surgical CT scan did not reveal), that the surgeon did? Or that he only told me about one of them, post-op or in the ten+ days he visited me in the hospital? Or that he never did give me any post-hernia-repair safety information? Or that the new belly button he made me is still draining and is not even in the middle, L-R???? I do not go see him any more. But God is good; I think I will NOT have a 3rd round of complications, nor the endless rounds the surgeon I see now for follow-up warns me about. The two friends who had had a similar surgery never had ANY. I will of course be careful. But not scared! ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 17 Dec 12 - 01:04 AM as you write, YAH |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Dec 12 - 10:17 PM A grocery-shopping volunteer for January has stepped up, YAY!!! One more stick to take off Hardi's back. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 Dec 12 - 06:39 PM It sounds like you are coming out of the woods. I'm happy for you, Wysiwyg. |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 16 Dec 12 - 03:17 PM Now if only I could remember not to prufreed on cold medicine. :~) ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 15 Dec 12 - 11:13 PM very good to read all the practicalities, Susan. keep healing & resting |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Dec 12 - 08:09 PM Sounds like you've turned a big corner, Susan! That's more than you written in the last two months. SRS |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 15 Dec 12 - 05:06 PM The going-home train is running fast now and I believe I have got it on the tracks. Monday a friend and her partner are making tine to help me set up a mini- Sick Bay, where I can continue healing, in our house. I am awaiting two bids for a ramp and handrails-- both bidders assure me that weather notwithstanding, I WILL be able to get into the house (and back out again as needed), safely. A ride of the anticipated discharge day has been arranged (with backup), with a good friend who had a similar surgery awhile back. The lift recliner I am prescribed is here now and the day has been chosen for it to return home, where it will be the last item needed for the Sick Bay. From Sick Bay I will entertain Home Health nurses/OT/PT. I will sleep. And there I will be drenched in sunshine, peace, and harmony. I just about have the nutrition program licked-- I am on a crazy-high-protein regimen to build tissue where infection ate mine. Our favorite local chef has given me a great price on two sheet pans of my favorite entrees, which I can break down into meal-sized portions for the freezer. Hardi has been stockpiling casseroles that our dear parishioners sent home (to feed the bachelor), to feed us both, so I should be able to resume cooking gradually the baby steps I am now able to take. Canned high-iron greens, fresh fruit, etc. will be easily gotten if they are not already at home. And the piece de resistance-- Sauder's hardcooked (peeled!!!) eggs from Weis Market to make brekky a la P-Vine both tasty and easy. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Dec 12 - 07:32 PM Hey, ya know what? This damn place has no PX! No stationery, spiral binders, pens/pencils, crayons, coloring books, books, stamps, phone cards, disposable cameras.... In your experience, is that the usual-- no gift/supply shop for residents? ??? ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 14 Dec 12 - 01:01 PM Hm.... boondocking at a homeless shelter.... that IS an option I had not considered! WITH service dog (overnight heat source)! ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Dec 12 - 08:53 PM insurance/bureaucracy battles are not good for sick/recovering people. keep gaining strength & keep fighting! Years ago a then homeless woman was given a phone & a list of womens refuges by a busy Social Worker as she recovered from an emergency gall bladder operation! She was new to town but fortunately had some other acquaintances who could help her find a place to stay. sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: LilyFestre Date: 13 Dec 12 - 01:39 PM It was not a person from church so they wouldn't have your directory. I guess they can figure it out on their own. Be well. Michelle |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 13 Dec 12 - 09:18 AM Friends, please understand that my online access and time are still very limited by repeated facility modem/router outages only the maint dept can touch (aaaaargh)...... as well as aggressive getting-ready-for-discharge-day OT/PT and multiple dressing changes, docs on rounds...... etc etc.... and the young staff members I make time to help along their career path (didn't expect THAT)..... hubby visits.... (I already need a nap!) :~) Oh and the Insurance Combat to which I am invited on a daily basis. :~) (I already need a VACATION!) So for example, EB-- I ain't been able to open nary a one, yet, but am looking fwd to them when I get home to MY router and modem which I can reboot whenever they need it! And when I see them on my fone email, it reminds me I'm connected somedamnwhar. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 13 Dec 12 - 04:49 AM LF, I think folks who want to be in touch have the contact information they need, including checking with the parish office. I have not seen the latest version of the parish directory lately, but I am pretty sure I am still in it. ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: EBarnacle Date: 13 Dec 12 - 01:58 AM Welcome back to ye world of communicants. I hope you have enjoy the stuff I have been sending you. |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: LilyFestre Date: 13 Dec 12 - 12:37 AM So was that a yes to the motormice email? I didn't get the impression that people were asking to visit but rather wanted to talk with you. Can you PM me a number that I can share with them or maybe an email address where they can contact you and you can share your number directly? Best wishes for continued healing. Michelle |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Dec 12 - 08:02 PM AMEN, tho 2012 has had its blessings, even amid the difficulties... ~S~ |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 12 Dec 12 - 07:03 PM may 2013 be a much better year sandra |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 12 Dec 12 - 05:49 PM Yeh, I love it! Here is a summary of what has happened. (People who email me get this and I update it as I have time.) Right now there is a huge PT-OT push and contractor-push to get me ready for the house-- and the house ready for me-- by Dec. 24. ===== Thanks for your email. My email access right now is sporadic, at best. Fone calls are welcome. I've been tied up since Sept. 13 with a major reconstructive surgery followed by serious complications. FMI look up: "wound dehiscence" "wound vac" (now removed) "wound contracture" "anemia" As of Thanksgiving this had involved ten days in-hospital post-op, then home health care, several weeks of nursing home care from which I was discharged back to home health care, 3 trips to the ER, and (the latest ER visit) a soccer-ball-sized abcess with another 4 (?) days in a different hospital, IV antibiotics, and 2 units of packed red blood cells. I am presently back in the nursing home for wound care, and hopefully, PT and OT. All my usual activities are suspended for the present; it is unknown how many weeks or months it will take to recover from these complications. I am still working out thyroid dosages (since March of 2012), and I am not sure where I am on the anemia-- it's better but not yet quite gone. To decrease the chance of another infection I am limiting visitors-- thanks for understanding! Priority goes to to people who can bring my service dog for a visit. Prayers, fone, and cards are welcome. Personal help at home is also welcome (call me). Much love, ~Susan |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 10 Dec 12 - 12:43 AM Myofascial_release - my phyio treats my fascia in similar ways. |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: LilyFestre Date: 09 Dec 12 - 03:23 PM FYI: Some local folks are asking me about you and are sending good thoughts your way. Can they contact you at the motormice email? I hope you are snuggly warm today...it's damp and cold out there. Michelle |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Janie Date: 09 Dec 12 - 10:33 AM Hi Susan, sorry to be so late chiming in - I'm just seeing this thread. Not sure what kind of surgery you had but don't need to know to add my my good wishes and to add a bit extra attentional emphasis for your healing to my meditations. Healing love and light, and strength your way. Janie |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: wysiwyg Date: 08 Dec 12 - 09:45 AM http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_release |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Dec 12 - 09:46 PM 1 laptop = the world! |
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Chaplet of Divine Mercy (WYS surgery) From: Ebbie Date: 07 Dec 12 - 08:36 PM I've been missing you, Susan. Glad to find this thread. Get even better fast- you've had a scary time of it. Keep us updated, OK? |
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