Badges of Honor, Summer 2016

Looks like a day of Multiple posts . . haven't done this in a LONG time.

It also may be TMI for some but I felt I needed to document the fresh, and 5 week old, belly cars I will be wearing with pride.

I went to 2 doctors appointments yesterday-

1st was to Sarah Cleveland, the PA at my primary care doctor's office. She is the one I saw last week who sent me to the ER. When she came in the door she came in like, "So, how's it going? Did we make the right move?"

I started laughing. I was so happy to see her feeling as well as I thought I felt.

2nd was in the late afternoon to Dr Buckley, the surgeon who took out my Gall Bladder.

His nurse came in to take all vitals and snip the stitches out. I got the feeling from her welcome that she had heard about my surgery. Can't tell you what it was, just that feeling, you know :)

A couple of the the sutures were kind of touchy, but since I had no stitches in the robotic incisions I figured that was pretty lucky.

When Dr Buckley came in he introduced me to his assistant this way, "This is the Queen of Abdominal Surgery."

He didn't say such, nor did he ask many questions, but he had the widest smile during the whole visit. So, I took this to mean that he was pretty happy with not only how well the incisions looked but how good, and "perky" I looked.

And yes, perky is what I needed to use as my verb of being. I was all smiles in  his office and just happy to be there.

Today I decided it was time I finally documented the incisions so, in years to come, I will remember what they looked like.

This is the right side of my abdomen,

the side where the pain has been the entire time.

The incision on the left (which is actually my right side)

is the beginning of the "gall bladder" arch.

You can see some red spots around it.

Those are the remainders of the hysterectomy incisions.

(Dr buckley re-used this incision that Dr Bartels made.)

The one on the right is the 2nd of "arch."

The one on the left is the 2nd "gall bladder arch" incision.

 The left incision is in the photo for a point of reference.

The incision at the bottom of the "belly button" is the biggie.

A couple of the sutures in this incision 

were a little painful to remove.

Top incision is from the hysterectomy.
Bottom is Gall Bladder.

 Good Heavens . . . 

I haven't seen those hairs around my belly button for YEARS!

Dr and Nurse both said to use Bio Oil on the scars to make them less noticeable after they heal.

Not me, I don't think.

I shall wear them as Badges of Honor

to the Summer of 2016

Belly Button cars for a point of reference;
Right two scars are from hysterectomy.
That concludes the trip around my abdominal incisions.

Not as neat as Gene's scar.

(His looks like a zipper from his breast bone to where the scar above my belly button is.)

but they are what I've been blessed with this summer.

Gene really has been good   the past week but, I do believe, that ended yesterday. I was blessed with  one week of his not bothering me to eat, letting Indy out without complaining and no pouting because I didn't want to do something or because I asked him to do something.

Still can't believe he i a pouter? Who would have thought a 73 year old man would pout?