July 13 - Saw a nurse at the plastic surgeon's office today. (Thanks so much for the ride, Peg!) She changed out the bandage on the arm graft site. I took a deep breath and had the guts to finally take a peek. Probably shouldn't have. Seriously gross. I can see all the muscles, tendons, and veins very clearly through the thin layer of skin they're growing, Really, seriously gross. And the divot in my flesh is 10x more pronounced than the pictures they had shown me previously. Majorly, really, seriously gross. So, I asked and was told that some of the tissue will fill back in but it takes ~6 months. Think I might be wearing long sleeves for the next 6 months just for my own peace of mind.

Meanwhile, I asked how long the splint has to stay on. I have another appt. next Wednesday so they can take a look and evaluate where I'm at. Even once they take it off though, it sounds like it will still be heavily bandaged and I still won't be able to get it wet. One armed showers will likely be playing a role in my life for a stretch of time. I'm thinking about having someone come over and shave my head, a la Britney Spears style. I can't manage a ponytail on my own without a lot of pain in my mostly useless arm, and it's way too hot not to have my hair up! It would also make showering a thousand times quicker and simpler.....and hey, it's just hair, it will grow back...

On the bright side, I think the trach hole has FINALLY started to heal! I haven't felt or heard myself breathe through it for almost 24 hours now. Such a relief!

I love the show True Blood. I thought it would be a kick to go back and read the Sookie books to see how close they follow the show. In one of the scenes I read today, Sookie had just gotten the snot beaten out of her by a bunch of werewolves. When she woke up feeling like death the following morning, she commented that all it takes is a good beating to bring home the fact that we're nothing but bags of skin with some delicate bits floating around inside. I can SO embrace what she's saying, and she said it so well!

Fruit smoothie for lunch yesterday thanks to a visit from Lis, Kunkel, JT, and R. Another fruit smoothie today thanks to a visit from Jer, Bill, and G. I'm feeling an addiction settling in. Instead of one of those Starbucks junkies with their frappacinos, I'm going to be at the Mickey D's drive-thru every morning for one of these yummy concoctions!

I think that's all the updating for now. G brought me a new Wii game today that I totally need to check out (did I mention that I seem to be having an ongoing, endless birthday happening? Or maybe it's Christmas in July, over and over and over again....), so I'm out of here!