Post Op Day 29 (Photos)

So, I took these pics myself (July 11th) as my daughter is gone, the coloring looks yellow in my bathroom but I have to have my bathroom mirror to see the images as I shoot them for a guide, otherwise self pics of this nature are a waste of time and incredibly frustrating. My stomach seems to be settling in a little more to normal...I will say the hyperpigmentation on the sides has seemed to fade a bit. When I get out of the shower it looks worse from the heat of the water. I'm using cortisone cream on that and McDerma on my LONG scar. Everything seems to be healing well with those treatments... I seem to have stalled on the weight loss at 20 pounds, I'm going to start to do a walking program of a mile at a time. I'm allowed to walk that distance daily, thing is with errand running, I'm defiantly doing that and probably more. I still have this incredible need for rest and that means sitting in a recliner or propped up in bed. I can't do two days in a row of activity yet. With all the skin treatments I do it takes an hour for me to get ready shower to dressed, it use to take 45 minutes.

Right side view of hip and scar, the hyperpigmentation isn't purple in real time, but it is red, I was cold from coming out of the shower.....You can see how the scar is healing along those edges ;) I was arching in this picture so private things stayed private...

This is the left side, you can see the drain marks still as you can see the hyperpigmentation looks much decreased on this side than the other...

That front on view,I think you can tell it doesn't look like my edges have approximated fully along my suture line but this is what it looks like when you have a plastics closure without topical sutures or staples...it will be nice once healed....and yes I am 4 weeks out now...

This was taken just so you see the belly button, it is getting there and once healed and settled in I think it will be a fine result.

This week I was able to sleep on my sides. I could flip to my stomach with some effort but I certainly could not stay there and regretted even trying. I have been incredibly tired this week getting out only a few times to run some errands. I HAVE to have my kids with me to even run to the grocery store a 5 # limit isn't much. For example: a gallon of milk is 8#, I can't lift cases of water, or even grab a liter of juice, I can't reach and lift any liter products, I can't tug stuff off the shelf...and once the groceries are bagged they are too heavy to lift. So, I'm still pretty limited. My kids were gone for the weekend to see their dad and when that happens I seem to just sleep more. I REALLY want to get to church tomorrow but I don't know if I can make it all the way through a service...not only that I don't know what I would wear, nothing fits, that is a good thing but I am going to have to buy some new clothes for work. I have already gotten some comfy home clothes but I am NOT wearing sweats to church...I guess another Sunday with church on the tube...I will say thank God for Christian TV...I crave Joseph Prince, every day I watch him every time he is on, even if I heard the message before I listen again... as much as I like listening to Andrew Wommack on TV I prefer his MP3 downloads as they are an hour or more in length...I like to dig deep...;)

To sleep I take 1.5-2 5mg percocets, a 10 mg flexaril, and sometimes a 0.5 mg xanax if I'm really feeling tight. I'll sleep 8-10 hours, 10 if I take 2 percocets, 8 if I take 1.5. Sleeping 10 hours means I don't have to nap so I am opting for that about every other day. During the day if I am doing house cleaning and yes, I am starting to do that, I take a tylenol 3 and 1/2 a flexaril. Today I washed down walls, did some spot painting, ironed, and washed baseboards. I unloaded and loaded the dishwasher the best I could because I can't put stuff up if I have to stack all the glass bowls. Tomorrow I'm hanging some curtains (I'll have help with that), continuing the woodwork and spot painting, doing some windows and I'm cleaning my room including going through tons of mail...I may dust and run the vacuum. If I can deep clean the inside (and I have not done that for 2 years since chemo started) that means the kids can pull weeds and keep the outside nice...THAT I can NOT do. They are both working now so I do have to cut them some slack. I did run out and get a few things at the grocery...I forgot a few things and have to go out again tomorrow, so another busy day tomorrow, but that is OK I had my Sabbath yesterday when I did not MOVE out of the bed hardly....

My favorite night this week was having Allies guy, Nolan down, we had a hilarious time. I told lots of little kid stories on Hunter and Allie and had them all in stitches...Nolan thinks he was a lot like Hunter as a kid...God love Nolan's Mom I need to meet her...I only survived Hunter with prayer and a sense of humor, but I wouldn't trade that boy for any other kid on this earth...I love him all the way inside his guts....I love how he ticks, I love his heart, and I love watching how he thinks even though it is so foreign to me...well, he just makes my eyes sparkle....we all laugh at each other so much, what a joy family can be...That girl of mine...she is a hoot, she started out so shy she cried when strangers looked at her out in public, bless her heart she is my Wednesday Adams, at the same time so much like me I KNOW what she is thinking and I can just look at her and we both bust a gut laughing....that is such a special bond to know someone that deep, it is precious my relationship with both my kids, as they have aged I have fallen in love more and more as days go by...and I don't know how that is possible...they keep my heart alive...Alright, it is my bedtime and the percocet is kicking in....time to shut my eyes....