Nine more days...

I just have to make it 9 more days...that gives the plastic surgeon his shot instead of the general surgeon. As many of you know that means a completely different way of going about this abdominal wall reconstruction...along with hidden scars :) In my early nursing career I had the benefit of working in the OR. There is really nothing like seeing a skilled surgeon make better a difficult situation for that patient. I often times would wonder if lay people would ever realize the artistry of a good surgeon...at that point I had no idea that one day I would be one of those patients in need of some artistry...



I have to say this economic crisis makes me very grateful for physicians who are willing to work for less money than they probably should. It makes me angry that insurance companies get to dictate how a procedure is done or they withhold payment. I wonder how much longer we are going to have insurance coverage for things like breast reconstruction after undergoing a mastectomy, since it is considered cosmetic, and after all, no one HAS to have their breast. I wonder why it is because I'm opting for plastics to repair this hernia via a tummy tuck procedure that I have to pay for 1/2 of it. A general surgeon would split me from sternum to pubis bone to repair this entire abdominal wall, and if your in medicine you know those surgeries not only disfigure you but leave you open to further abdominal wall rupture and incisional hernia going the length of that incision...Waiting 9 days will not only cost thousands but it will leave me with a smiley face vs a vertical line and abs I can view again...it will also leave me with a much stronger stomach wall that will endure this lifetime...they money for me is worth it...AND I am seeing a top plastics guy who much to my appreciation lowered his fees by 1500.00 dollars. Sometimes working in medicine gives you breaks in medicine :)



Now, yes, I am a Christian, I have prayed, but my stomach has not closed on its own. I have prayed about this since it started 2 years ago...I intensely prayed about my health and fasted 9 months ago...at that time I was healed of RA...but this hernia is an issue where I have not found healing manifesting itself yet, it also is not something I can/will not deny. I don't believe we are to deny sickness, we are to seek healing from it...I don't have the answers here...except to say let God be true and every man a liar...it is ME certainly not Him that is "missing it"BUT I do have a peace that I will make it 9 more days....and about this time in the evening maybe I'll be sitting up in a chair sporting my new smiley face...