Yesterday marked the end of the most recent stage of the cancer/surgery odyssey. I got the surgical staples removed, got a new leg dressing from my prosthetist, and made the trip back to Champaign. Today I rejoined academic life.
Dad accompanied me to the surgeon's office early in the morning. We placed bets on how many staples the nurse would have to remove. He guessed 50 and I, 40. I counted 35.
We met Sue at the prosthetist's office. She got a show-and-tell similar to the one Dad and I got on the last visit. The prosthetist gave me a that I will eventually use in the fake leg. Interestingly, I need to wash it every night with hand soap and disinfect it twice a week with unflavored mouthwash. It seems strange to clean an expensive engineered silicone medical implement with random bathroom products.
Since the last visit I have had painful in my missing leg. Sometimes it feels like the leg is trying to "wake up" from being asleep. Other times it feels like something is gouging the sole or heel of my foot. Really, my brain is trying to rewire itself to handle the missing or confusing signals from the remaining nerves in my leg. My prosthetist recommended patting the sides of the stump. My surgeon prescribed and suggested that hypnosis may help. I have not gotten to the point of trying hypnosis, but the other two approaches seem to help temporarily. The pain should decrease with time as my brain and nerves adjust.
After grabbing a quick lunch, the three of us departed for Champaign; Dad in his SUV and me riding with Sue in my car. They took me grocery shopping and helped me carry things up the two flights of stairs to my apartment. I am not looking forward to traveling up and down those stairs with crutches every day. Fortunately, I will get a temporary prosthetic in a month or two that should make the trip easier.
Today I attended classes. I kept up with homework while I was gone, so my transition back to academic life should be pretty easy.
Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes over the past two weeks.
Says:
Now that looks like an opportunity for an enterprising grad student to come up with an exclusive line of cleaning products!