De-Tubing & Shoulder Issues

On Sunday, January 9th I went back to Salt Lake with Chase so I could have my surgical follow-up with Dr. Agarwal the next day, Monday the 10th. Chase took me to Collin & Tiffany's house where I spent the night. It's always fun to go see them, and that funny little guy, Landon!

The next morning Tiffany took me up to the Huntsman for my appointment. She has been so good about hauling me up there, with baby in tow and all. Not really a convenient thing to do, but she's always so willing, bless her heart!

I had high, high hopes of having all three of my drain tubes pulled. I had put up with those miserable things for almost three weeks. The holes where they enter my body get very tender and sore. There are sutures in my skin that hold them in place, and then there's those ridiculous drain "grenades" (don't know what they're really called - don't care) that I have to keep pinned to my pants at all times. Cute, huh? Having a decent night's sleep has been next to impossible with those stupid things coming out of my back.

My incisions seem to be healing okay, and the rash on my back had improved quite a bit. When my doctor at home, Dr. Weed saw the rash, she wrote me a prescription for a steroid cream, which has finally started to help clear it up. Unfortunately Dr. Agarwal would only pull two of the tubes, still leaving me with one remeaing tube hanging out of the "mini-boob" on my back. Bummer! They assured me that I didn't want them out too soon, which can result in fluid accumulation, then infection (there's some nifty medical term for that, but you think I can remember those terms? No way!). Infection is not a good thing, so I needed to quit whining.

After my appointment, Tiffany and I went to the Bistro on the 6th floor of the Huntsman and had an early lunch. We just killed time until I heard from Curtis, a Dillon friend who was my ride home. We met him at the Gateway Mall, and back to Dillon we went. Whirlwind trip! Dillon to Salt Lake on Sunday afternoon, appointment Monday morning, and back to Dillon Monday afternoon.

I had another Herceptin IV appointment in Rexburg on Friday(On the Road Again!). By then my lone drain tube had drained less than 25 ml two days in a row, 18ml on Thursday, and 14 ml on Friday. So I talked the PA at Teton Oncology into pulling my last drain tube for me. I don't think he'd ever done it before, so he was a little unsure. I just told him "don't worry, they've cut so many nerves I don't usually feel it - and if you don't do it, I'm going to try talking my husband into doing it!" The thought of going another week trying to get a Doctor at home to pull it... not acceptable! So, Darren, the PA went ahead and pulled it. It was kind of funny- the nurse who stood and watched was kind of freaking out because the tubing never seemed to end. The tube inside me was almost a foot long! I heard Darren tell her as they left the room, "That was kinda fun!" Oh those medical geeks! I was happy though. I'm finally free! The tubes were finally gone!

What's not so liberating are shoulder issues. Nope, the Cortisone shot didn't do anything. So disappointed! After a week or so I finally broke down and made a Physical Therapy appointment. She says I have "impingement" in the joint where the tendons & nerves are getting pinched. I've done the Therapy twice a week for about 3 weeks, and I'm not noticing any major improvement. I have been doing various exercises at home (In this pic I'm doing a shoulder stretch that uses a pulley system that shuts in the door.). I'm getting nervous that I have torn something in there, and PT won't be of help. Am I going to end up needing to see an Orthopedic doctor? I am so sick of Doctors! No offense to my doctor brother, soon-to-be doctor son, and all of my many doctors from the past year, but wow!