WEEK 17 : Stitches Still Not Gone!

After the fun week of having Tasha and Collin's families home to visit, I rode with Collin and Tiffany back to Utah for another doctor's visit. It was officially two weeks since my Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Agarwal, had stitched up the hole in my incision. As previously mentioned, I did get "lucky," and it healed without any infection or further complications.

So on May 17th I went in for the 2 week check-up, and hoped to get my stitches out. I was scheduled to fly out of Salt Lake later that afternoon to Bozeman, where Rich was working. Considering it is about an hour drive from Provo to Salt Lake, I was trying to figure out various scenarios of how to get far enough north to ride the TRAX to the Huntsman Hospital, then maybe catch the bus to the airport from there. But my sweet daughter-in-law, Tiffany, was very insistent that she drive me. For her that meant getting the baby out of bed in the morning, and driving me to Salt Lake for the appointment, waiting for me, then killing time with a baby in tow until she could drop me off at the airport, then, of course, the hour drive back.
So Tiffany ended up taking me to my early appointment, which I appreciated so much! We made it to my appointment on time, but unfortunately, Dr. Agarwal didn't want the stiches to come out yet. I was rather disappointed about that. But they did go ahead and put some saline back into my expander, because they took some out when they stitched me up. By now, most women would have been "expanded" several times; I, on the other hand, was just getting back to where I started the day of the Mastectomy and insertion of the expander with a little saline in it. How's that for progress?

Then Tiff and I spent a little bit of time walking around The Gateway, a really neat shopping area in downtown Salt Lake City. Landon is such a good baby - he rode around in the stroller without a complaint, and napped when we were in the car. We ate at a really nice Italian restaurant, then headed off to the airport where Tiff dropped me off right at the door. Thanks a ton, Tiffany!

My journey home was rather interesting. It would have cost over $1,000 for a direct flight from SLC to Bozeman, while it only cost around $400 to fly to Denver, sit in the airport for a few hours, then fly from Denver to Bozeman. Crazy! So, of course, that's what I did.

When I got on the plane there was an African-American flight attendant with what sounded like a West African accent. I was wearing one of my scarves that I wrap a certain way that another Chemo patient named Kathy showed me. When the flight attendant saw me she exclaimed, "Oh, I love your scarf! It reminds me of home!" I got a kick out of that. Actually, I wish I had one of those colorful scarves, and could tie it like I have seen women from Ghana wear. They are so amazing. Then maybe wearing scarves would be more fun (I'm kind of sick of them already).

I finally made it to Bozeman, where Rich picked me up at the airport. We went back to the LaQuinta Inn there, where he is doing the electrical work. I wandered around the motel for a while, checking out the progress, while Rich and Ryan finished up. Then back home to Dillon. A crazy few days! Not getting the stitches out made the whirlwind trip seem a bit of a waste, but having a fun day with Tiffany and Landon definitely made it worthwhile.