Ellis Health Update – 171012

After my Wednesday, 4 October visit with Dr Lindquist, we stopped to eat at the Black Bear Restaurant on the way home. The trip wore me out and I barely managed to keep my eyes open until 2100, my now normal bedtime. I still felt very tired the next day and took two long naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, on Friday I was well-enough recovered to resume my half-mile stroll around the neighborhood.

Because there is still some scab on a small part of my surgical incision, I have not yet been cleared to soak in the bathtub, a luxury that is especially alluring when forbidden. I am making do by having Rosemary wash my back gently with a soapy washcloth. The rest I can handle myself, using the same washcloth. Recently, while undergoing this routine, Rosemary snapped a photograph of my surgical scar (right). The three brown spots near the upper end of the scar are globs of adhesive which are supposed to wear off naturally. More adhesive can be seen at the lower end of the scar, specifically a brown line at the very end of the scar and running perpendicularly to it. The short scar located just below the bottom end of the major incision is where the four separate drain tubes inserted into my chest exited.

Each of the four drain tubes led to a separate container which had to be loaded onto a walker when an attendant took me for a walk around the corridor. Of course these four tubes were in addition to the normal feeding and medication tubes and measuring instruments associated with any major surgery. These were attached to my body and mounted on a rolling stalk. The first walk I did while still in the ICU included me pushing a walker on which the chest-drain containers were mounted, a physical therapist holding my arm in case I stumbled, a trainee pushing the rolling stalk and a second trainee going ahead to clear the way. We were quite a sight I am sure.

But that is reminiscing in the past. I did my now-normal half-mile stroll with the rolling walker on 8 October and then the next day, today, left the training wheels at home in favor of my trusty yucca-pole stick (left). Walking without having to push the walker along was a lot easier and, upon measuring my track when I returned home, I found that I had walked a full mile.

After today's walk I felt better than I have any day since surgery. Also, I am now feeling better about the follow-up visit to Houston. We plan to leave home around 1000 on the 23^rd and arrive at our hotel in Houston at about 2145. It will feel good to fly without having to be pushed through the airport in a wheelchair.

On the afternoon of my one-mile yucca-pole walk I was very tired and slept for almost three hours. As a result I didn't sleep quite as well as normal that night and didn't feel like another mile-long walk the next day. I did, however, manage to do a half-mile, again without the training wheels. I was still very weak the next day and didn't walk at all except around the house and to eat lunch at a local restaurant. However, by the following day, 12 October, I felt up to another one-mile hike, although I must admit to taking a short break along the way.

I am beginning to see some fall color now, just a few small, scattered cottonwoods that have turned yellow and, strangely, one large cottonwood that is showing scattered clumps of yellow leaves. We have not had a frost yet and the yellow leaves seem to be associated with particular branches. Perhaps those branches have been infested by some insect.

I have corresponded with the Baylor Clinic concerning my upcoming followup visit asking them to make that visit as short as possible because of Rosemary's asthma problem. The high humidity in the Houston area is particularly difficult for her. So far, the only tests scheduled are routine blood tests and an x-ray planned to immediately precede a visit with Doctor Sugarbaker. Depending on the results of those tests and the office visit, the doctor might call for additional procedures. We are hopeful that will not be the case.