Visits with Doctors

On Monday, I saw the plastic surgeon. I asked her why I still had an open wound and the answer was that the bacterial infection (bacterial colony, really) wiped out a lot of the skin graft.

The latisimus flap (the muscle near your shoulder blade) did fill in the big hole created when they took out the cancerous mass. The skin graft was to cover the whole area, but the infection wiped it out.

Dr. T was pleased with the progress of the wound after the infection. Now the whole area is nice red granulated tissue. That tissue will eventually form skin - maybe in about two weeks - but it's going to stall out because the skin can't grow up the "wall" that formed near the back of the wound. Remember when I said that it looked like a ledge? The healthy flesh coming from my back toward my armpit all of a sudden dropped down a 1/2 inch. Well, in order for skin to grow up to that, we need to create a ramp or a slope going down to the granulated tissue, so she used silver nitrite (which is used to cauterize bleeding wounds) to kill some of the tissue at the edge, so it can create a slope that will allow the granulated tissue to grow skin up to that level. There was also an area in the middle of the wound of "hyper-granulation" that needs to be killed so skin can form there. So, we're still in the process of growing tissue. At least I now have an estimate to when I no longer have an open wound. I can handle a couple of weeks. I had a vague idea that it might be months. I'm relieved about that.

Then, yesterday, I saw Dr. K, my oncologist. The assistant noted that it looked like I lost weight. I think I have since surgery as my clothes are looser. I ended up weighing 135 pounds, about 8 pounds less than I did prior to surgery. That was a surprise because when I was in the hospital, I weighed 142. Anyway, I figure I have lost the implant (good for a pound or two), the big mass under my armpit (good for another pound or two), plus I drained a lot of fluid (the whole armpit had edema prior to surgery). I told the nurse that my appetite has been great so I don't think they are too concerned.

I talked to Dr. K about the tumor near my breastbone - I have watched it grow a little bit in the last few weeks since surgery. It seems to want to grow up and out of my skin and now has a little purplish bruise on the skin above it. Also, about an inch up my arm from the port, it seems that part of the catheter comes up to the skin before going down again. I wondered if the port needed to be taken out. He thought that the catheter was okay and also decided that I should start Herceptin again to try to stem the growth of the breastbone tumor. I haven't had chemo for about 7 weeks, so I guess it's time. Eventually, that tumor may be taken out surgically. But I don't feel like thinking about that any time soon. I wonder if I should stat making a poultice of turmeric and aloe vera gel and putting it on that tumor to see if a topical application would help stem the growth? It certainly wouldn't hurt, I guess.

In the meantime, I made it through class yesterday. I asked the students where things stood with their projects and I helped talk them through their literature review. I was pretty tired afterwards - listening for two hours and trying to concentrate on what they were doing. Then I came home, ate lunch, went to wound care, then picked up Eddie, ran an errand, and then saw Dr. K. Whew. I laid down after dinner and I dozed a couple of times through the evening. I didn't get to sleep until late, though. I ran over to the MU for a snack before class and my legs felt shaky afterwards.

I made it through two busy days and didn't feel too tired. Yay! I do try to take it easy when I can. Today, I only have wound care. I might also run an errand or two. Otherwise, I need to grade papers and do some paperwork. My plan is to take Ed to school, come home and rest until I go to wound care, then go back to my office to take care of papers.