Tuesday, July 19th: Hello

Just wanted to say hello to all of you following the blog.  I've been doing pretty well.  Still trying to get the aches and pains of my joints and muscles under better control.  I continue to work with Sandy regarding my neuropathy.  I do feel like it is improving some, but still quite bothersome. I've developed a tendonitis of my left thumb that has been quite bothersome so I'm wearing a brace to remind me not to use it.  Dr. Shen is giving me some extra needles during my acupuncture sessions to help with that.  I have a CT scan this Thursday, which will serve as my new baseline, minus all the things surgically removed and minus the intraperitoneal port.  True to my nature the incision from the port removal is not healing well.  I had a reaction to the glue and had a rash for a couple of weeks.  The rash is now gone, but my body is "spitting" out the glue, so to speak and leaving the wound open.  So it will most likely heal secondarily and take a couple of months.  It doesn't hurt so that is good, but I'm afraid to go back to swimming laps for fear of infection.  Mom and I continue to go for walks almost daily and I am now doing Wii each day.  I hope to try Zumba at the gym sometime soon.
My other big news is that my hair is growing back.  I actually have gone in public with no hair accessory several times in the past week.  Becky says I just look like one of those "bad-ass girls" so I'll take that as a good sign. 
I officially resigned from my job at Planned Parenthood and took a job with Hayward/Fremont Kaiser as an "on-call" basis .  It will be doing phone assessments on patients about to have surgery.  About 15-20% of the patients will need an actual physical but otherwise the job should have very little demand on me physically.  I am a bit worried about the commute, but it is an "on-call" job so I will be able to control how many hours I accept to a certain degree. 
I hope you are all having a great summer.  I will post again once I know my CT results.  Thank you again for all of your support, kind thoughts/words/prayers and for being in my life.
Denise

Tuesday, July 5th

Happy Late 4th of July!  I hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday.  Thank you to Andie and Jenn for hosting a barbecue after I claimed I had no 4th of July party to attend.  Dana and Bobby (my sister and brother-in-law) usually have an annual 4th party but this year they traveled down to Southern California to visit Robert (my nephew).
Today was my post-op appointment with Dr. Chen in Walnut Creek.  She is not completely pleased with how the incision is healing.  In the past, I've had reactions to steri strips (the little pieces of tape they use to close a wound).  Because of this she closed the wound with medical glue.  Well, it seems my body does not like it either.  The area around my wound has been red and very itchy and it seems the wound has been expelling the glue and is trying to open up.  So I'm going to try to use the steri strips for a few days with the hope that it will be enough to close the wound without causing a reaction.
Due to my issues with pain and fatigue she extended my disability a little longer with the new date to return to work as August 1st.  She also said if I'm still having issues as that date comes closer to let her know and we can re-evaluate yet again.  I've realized I'm really fearful of returning to work because I feel like the healing I'm trying so hard to achieve in all areas of my life right now, will come to a halt or stop once I return to work, even if it is less hours.
I am sure there is much more I could reveal or discuss, but it is getting late now and I'm having trouble thinking so will post more later.  Hope all of you out there are doing well,
Denise