Monday, February 17, 2020
Thursday night a new wound opened up near my tail bone and my older daughter, Megan, told me it was ugly and could be deep. On Friday night, I heard Megan say, “Oh, no!” when she took off my bandages to redo the dressing. I asked Megan what the exclamation was about, and she said, “You do not need to know until Monday morning. It is not bad enough for you to go to the hospital, and you cannot call in to schedule a wound care appointment until Monday.
You would think I would have demanded to know what was happening since I am a control freak, but I agreed with Megan’s rationale. She told me there was something serious, but not immediate happening and I did not spend the weekend wondering about it. There were not any details I needed to know until this morning. Megan delivered the bad new to me this morning.
I knew the new wound was ugly and stinky because Megan had been using the more aggressive creams on it during the weekend to try to kill the bad bacteria. It was worse than that. Megan was pretty certain the wound was open to my bone. The one-two punch of chemotherapy and steroids were winning the battle for my butt. Exposed bone is always an infection wanting to kill you.
I called the wound care center this morning to see if Dr Dash could fit me in her schedule on Thursday morning. The wound care center is a collection of doctors that have different specialties and usually see patients one or two half shifts a week. Dr. Dash is a plastic surgeon and she is available Thursday mornings; she works the rest of the week at her private practice. I was able to be scheduled for Thursday.
Now I get to wait patiently for Thursday and the news that could destroy my happy summer plans. Every doctor freaks out about exposed bone. I dealt with exposed bone for several years during and after my bout with the flesh eating disease, once when I was pregnant with my seven-year-old, and once four years ago. I healed it up each time. This time the chemotherapy and steroids will prevent healing from happening.
If we can get my wound clean by Thursday, I would like to have my chemotherapy treatment on Friday so I can complete cycle four. Either way, I am sure I will be going on a chemotherapy break three months before I want to. My skin is so compromised right now it will take at least three months to get my skin issues back on track. It is likely I will be back on track to restart chemotherapy treatment just in time for summer.
Perhaps I will luck out and it will take me six months to get my skin strong again, pushing chemotherapy treatment back into the next school year. Unfortunately, that would also give my cancer six months to grow unimpeded. Either way it is a lose-lose situation. My doctors will decide which is the greater of two evils, the hole in my butt or my cancer. I am betting exposed bone wins.
Just like this weekend, I will not stress about what may or may not happen Thursday. I have done my part; my wound care appointment has been scheduled to verify the depth of my new wound. Once I have my appointment, I can talk to the doctors to see what is the next step.
My piece of advice to you is to not sweat the small stuff. Yes, a hole in my butt exposing bone is bad, but not irreversible. I am not going to spend the next few days drowning in what ifs. I plan to have pleasant days until Thursday, when my life will be turned upside down. Today, unlike last Monday, really is a day off school, so our friends are coming for a play date and I will enjoy it.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Thursday night a new wound opened up near my tail bone and my older daughter, Megan, told me it was ugly and could be deep. On Friday night, I heard Megan say, “Oh, no!” when she took off my bandages to redo the dressing. I asked Megan what the exclamation was about, and she said, “You do not need to know until Monday morning. It is not bad enough for you to go to the hospital, and you cannot call in to schedule a wound care appointment until Monday.
You would think I would have demanded to know what was happening since I am a control freak, but I agreed with Megan’s rationale. She told me there was something serious, but not immediate happening and I did not spend the weekend wondering about it. There were not any details I needed to know until this morning. Megan delivered the bad new to me this morning.
I knew the new wound was ugly and stinky because Megan had been using the more aggressive creams on it during the weekend to try to kill the bad bacteria. It was worse than that. Megan was pretty certain the wound was open to my bone. The one-two punch of chemotherapy and steroids were winning the battle for my butt. Exposed bone is always an infection wanting to kill you.
I called the wound care center this morning to see if Dr Dash could fit me in her schedule on Thursday morning. The wound care center is a collection of doctors that have different specialties and usually see patients one or two half shifts a week. Dr. Dash is a plastic surgeon and she is available Thursday mornings; she works the rest of the week at her private practice. I was able to be scheduled for Thursday.
Now I get to wait patiently for Thursday and the news that could destroy my happy summer plans. Every doctor freaks out about exposed bone. I dealt with exposed bone for several years during and after my bout with the flesh eating disease, once when I was pregnant with my seven-year-old, and once four years ago. I healed it up each time. This time the chemotherapy and steroids will prevent healing from happening.
If we can get my wound clean by Thursday, I would like to have my chemotherapy treatment on Friday so I can complete cycle four. Either way, I am sure I will be going on a chemotherapy break three months before I want to. My skin is so compromised right now it will take at least three months to get my skin issues back on track. It is likely I will be back on track to restart chemotherapy treatment just in time for summer.
Perhaps I will luck out and it will take me six months to get my skin strong again, pushing chemotherapy treatment back into the next school year. Unfortunately, that would also give my cancer six months to grow unimpeded. Either way it is a lose-lose situation. My doctors will decide which is the greater of two evils, the hole in my butt or my cancer. I am betting exposed bone wins.
Just like this weekend, I will not stress about what may or may not happen Thursday. I have done my part; my wound care appointment has been scheduled to verify the depth of my new wound. Once I have my appointment, I can talk to the doctors to see what is the next step.
My piece of advice to you is to not sweat the small stuff. Yes, a hole in my butt exposing bone is bad, but not irreversible. I am not going to spend the next few days drowning in what ifs. I plan to have pleasant days until Thursday, when my life will be turned upside down. Today, unlike last Monday, really is a day off school, so our friends are coming for a play date and I will enjoy it.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.