modify_evolution
Day 86- Speak
Casey and I met with her surgeon and his assistant for the last time before the surgery on Tuesday. It turned out that the appointment after her was a woman with a hemipelvectomy (Casey isn't getting a normal hemipelvectomy; normal ones stop at the spine, but hers is crossing the sacrum). She's been battling several cancers for 15 years, and has no self-consciousness anymore, and was fine pulling down her skirt and leggings to show us her scars. It's been a couple years since she had it, but it looks really good; the scars aren't that big or anything. They're definitely there; it's going to be basically a 'n' shape over what used to be Casey's hip, but it's not like, a big swath of scar tissue or anything. She also showed us this pillow she uses that is in quadrants, and you can inflate which sections need more support. She also had a really cool walker with squishy handgrips and pouches. She gave us her phone number and said to call her or her husband whenever. She was so nice, and just. Provided hope, you know?
In case you're curious, the surgery: They'll be starting at 8:30 am on the 23rd. Urology will come in and put in a catheter and ureter stents. Then the surgeon who did her chest surgery will do her colostomy. After that, the surgeon who originally told us Casey had cancer, and did her shoulder biopsy, will do the amputation. Casey basically blurs the line between an amputation patient and a spinal cord injury patient, so there will be spinal cord people there, too. As an aside, they said that they may be able to save her nerves controlling bowel/bladder function. They said they'll do all they can to not sever them if possible, but sometimes, doing surgery near nerves makes them freak out, and they stop working for awhile. If so, her colostomy can be reversed when nerve function returns.
After her surgery, she'll spend the first night in the ICU, and then go to her usual floor where she knows the nurses to recover. After she's recovered, instead of going home, she'll probably be transferred to the inpatient rehab unit at the adult hospital, where, as she put it, it's basically rehab boot camp for a week or two. During this whole time, she'll meet with a slew of doctors and surgeons who know of her and have been following her case, but won't become useful until after her surgery, when we know exactly what she needs. She's got rehab people, plastic surgeons (just in case), physical therapists, people who could do the prosthetics for her if at all possible, all that.
Would it be really underhandedly bitchy for me to make a comment about second opinions?
Day 86- Speak
Casey and I met with her surgeon and his assistant for the last time before the surgery on Tuesday. It turned out that the appointment after her was a woman with a hemipelvectomy (Casey isn't getting a normal hemipelvectomy; normal ones stop at the spine, but hers is crossing the sacrum). She's been battling several cancers for 15 years, and has no self-consciousness anymore, and was fine pulling down her skirt and leggings to show us her scars. It's been a couple years since she had it, but it looks really good; the scars aren't that big or anything. They're definitely there; it's going to be basically a 'n' shape over what used to be Casey's hip, but it's not like, a big swath of scar tissue or anything. She also showed us this pillow she uses that is in quadrants, and you can inflate which sections need more support. She also had a really cool walker with squishy handgrips and pouches. She gave us her phone number and said to call her or her husband whenever. She was so nice, and just. Provided hope, you know?
In case you're curious, the surgery: They'll be starting at 8:30 am on the 23rd. Urology will come in and put in a catheter and ureter stents. Then the surgeon who did her chest surgery will do her colostomy. After that, the surgeon who originally told us Casey had cancer, and did her shoulder biopsy, will do the amputation. Casey basically blurs the line between an amputation patient and a spinal cord injury patient, so there will be spinal cord people there, too. As an aside, they said that they may be able to save her nerves controlling bowel/bladder function. They said they'll do all they can to not sever them if possible, but sometimes, doing surgery near nerves makes them freak out, and they stop working for awhile. If so, her colostomy can be reversed when nerve function returns.
After her surgery, she'll spend the first night in the ICU, and then go to her usual floor where she knows the nurses to recover. After she's recovered, instead of going home, she'll probably be transferred to the inpatient rehab unit at the adult hospital, where, as she put it, it's basically rehab boot camp for a week or two. During this whole time, she'll meet with a slew of doctors and surgeons who know of her and have been following her case, but won't become useful until after her surgery, when we know exactly what she needs. She's got rehab people, plastic surgeons (just in case), physical therapists, people who could do the prosthetics for her if at all possible, all that.
Would it be really underhandedly bitchy for me to make a comment about second opinions?