And the adventure continues

I'm sorry if I left you hanging last week, the day before my Friday venture out. That was my staples-removal, eating-out, shopping day just 10 days after surgery. So here's the scoop. STAPLES: My staples were removed and the 10-in*****ision was secured by butterfly bandages. The nurse told me to let the shower knock them off. (That's important because of what happened yesterday). Several people expressed concern about the pain that would accompany staple removal. My reply was, "well, it certainly won't be as painful as the surgery itself." So, they were removed. It stung a little, but I was glad to be rid of the stuff. I got a good report from Dr. Miller, so we scheduled our next appointment for the first week of August and headed out to lunch. EATING OUT: We stopped at Jimmy's in Bridgeville and ordered grilled chicken, green beans and corn on the cobb, for one. My husband also ordered a side salad. I can't have raw fruit or veggies yet, so I tried to ignore him while he ate his salad. When the meal came, we cut off a little chicken, the tip of the corn, and spooned out some green beans on a bread plate the waitress brought. The chicken was awfully dry, but everything was good. SHOPPING: After lunch, we tooled up to our first stop, the Commissary at Dover AFB. This is probably the first time we've been in the commissary for ten years, and I was pleased with what I saw. But I forgot low-fat cheese! At any rate, we must have been in there a half hour to forty-five minutes. Now, MY agenda was to hit Home Depot, Staples and Sam's after the commissary. Needless to say, I was ready to go home instead, so we did. And that was Friday. On Saturday, I crashed. I was pretty well good for nothin' so I just lumped around (you know, the lump on the proverbial log type thing) Sunday, church which pretty well wiped me out on Monday! Yesterday (Tuesday) David told me I wasn't walking enough (like two or three times up and down our steps isn't enough!). So, we went Lowe's to exchange a toilet seat and we'd planned to go to Sam's to pick up some meat. We were in Lowe's about a half hour. When I got in the car, the top of my left leg, just above the knee upward, started a burning-tingling which alarmed me. I'd never felt anything like that before. So I called Dr. Miller's office on my cell and Tina told me to meet him at the Emergency Room in Seaford. We were outside Sam's Club at that time, so we gassed up and and hour later arrived at Nanticoke Memorial. By 6 pm I was clad in a too-small gown and laying on a gurney in one of the examining rooms. After they ruled out a heart issue, they decided to do an ultrasound on my legs. Praise God, no clots. The ultrasound tech's first remark was, "you're a walker, aren't you?" "I beg your parden?" "You're a walker, aren't you? I can tell because your veins are open." When I met Dr. Miller after he got the U-S results, he checked everything else, pulled of the remaining butterfly bandages from Friday saying he thought they'd served their purpose, and gave me a clean bill of health. ABOUT BLOOD CLOTS But the important thing is that he said it was ABSOLUTELY THE RIGHT THING TO DO TO COME AND CHECK THIS OUT. You see, the only patient he's lost and leg issues and died of blood clot. She was from Dover. I don't know the specifics nor do I really care. Interestingly enough, I asked the U-S tech about blood clots and she said that different people display differently. She knew one man who had a pain in his leg for about 15 minutes, took a tylenol and it went away. His wife, however, insisted that they go to ER. When they checked him, his leg was FILLED with clots. So, that's my outing adventure so far. I apologize for my story's length, but it's my first day alone since the surgery. The tv's off and I can start getting things done. I'm having visitors for the morning around 10:30 and someone's coming to replace our front and side doors sometime today. Oh! By the way! This morning I was down 20.8 pounds since my surgery. I'm teaching a workshop in about a month. I would love to be down another 10 or 15 pounds. We'll see what we will see. I hope all is well with you. Bye Diane C

Wow Diane, It sounds like you are doing great. And it is good that you didn't mess around with your leg pain. Take care Dana

So glad you checked it out. I suffer with blood clots. Did you get a filter? I thought that everyone downstate gets a filter. I'm getting one in the day before. Sounds like you have been sooooo busy. Keep posting and mending.

No, it was my choice. Dr. Miller requires it of people over a certain BMI. At 50 or so, I was just under the mark. I also found out that insurance companies don't always pay for the filter. Diane C.

Diane, you sound like all is going okay now. I had the tingling in my upper left leg above the knee to the groin. I remember asking the Dr. and he said it was from walking. I was so worried about clots, that as soon as I got out of recovery and to my room, I started to walk. The day after I was released I had my hubby drive me to the gym so I could walk around the track 2 x's. That's when the tingling started. Now I can do 20 minutes on the treadmill and the tingling has finally stopped. I guess my legs were in denial. They hadn't walked in such a long time that they were rebelling. Keep up the good job. Any problems call and ask. Not worth taking risks and not knowing. ((HUGS)) Elissa

It's good to know. Thanks di