July 18 - Two more doctor's appointments out of the way and two more set up for next week...........

This morning I went to see Erin, the PA at the ENT's office. She said everything looks good. She painted some purple medicine on what's left of my trach hole. She said it will help it heal up much faster. (Wish she had done that a week ago!) She asked me how the full liquid diet is going. I told her that I managed to eat some mac and cheese yesterday. I couldn't chew it but if I stuck to one noodle at a time, I could just let it slide down my throat. It was so awesome eating some actual food! Meanwhile Erin said this was super impressive and that I was way ahead of schedule. She also suggested mashed potatoes and gravy if I was craving 'real' food. (And with a quick stop made by my friend Kit, I was happily eating this for lunch today. Thanks Kit!) The last thing we discussed were the radiation treatments which will be starting up in a few weeks. It turns out that you go in for a consultation first where they whip out a "cookbook" and decide exactly what type of treatment will be most effective. Who knew radiation came in so many flavors and that treatment would be so interactive?? Excellent! So, the radiation consult appt is next Friday and I am now done with the ENT until 10/19.

This afternoon was an appointment with the plastic surgeon's office. First up was the PA, Chryssa. She was happy with my tongue although when I told her I was hoping to be able to chew this coming Monday, she winced. She gave me a reality check and said it would probably be a few more weeks yet. (I knew I couldn't trust that darn doc when he said 3 weeks!) Anyway, she wasn't thrilled with the graft site on my arm. There are two small areas in the middle that look like they've been 'rubbing' and the tendons underneath are barely still covered by the graft. If they break through, a second graft will need to be done. She said that I should probably keep the splint on for another week. She decided to go find Karen, the nurse who saw me on Friday to see if this is what the site looked like a few days ago.

While she was gone, the hottie plastic surgeon dude in training popped in to take a look at things (He was the one I saw the most of in the hospital.). He thought things looked okay and that I could go without the splint. His big fear about leaving the splint on for another week is that my wrist will stiffen up too much and I will then need physical therapy.

While he was still checking me out, the actual hottie plastic surgeon popped in. He thinks the graft is going to be okay. Then Chryssa was back with Karen. At this point I have pretty much the entire staff in the examination room with me and I'm feeling like a movie star or something! After much discussion amongst everyone it was decided the splint will stay on for another week and that the movement in my wrist is perfectly fine at this point and I'm likely too young to need any physical therapy even after another week in the splint.

Based on all of this, I refuse to use this hand for ANYthing over the next week. Not even to open a bottle! The last thing I want is to have to go back to the hospital for a second graft! Arrrgghh!

So, finally it was just me and Karen in the room. She wants me to start changing the dressing on the graft every day so she showed me how to do that and gave me a goody bag of supplies. I'm way unthrilled that I will be viewing this horror on a daily basis from here on out but I guess I'm suppose to be on the lookout for any 'swampiness' that may occur. A dry site is a healthy site. <sigh>

It should be noted that I have hopped on Amazon and found 'sleeves'. I'm contemplating the purchase of a few sets of these so that as previously mentioned, I can keep this thing covered and out of my sight for the next 6 months....

Meanwhile, I mentioned to Karen that I'm climbing the walls at home and asked what milestones need to be met in order for me to go back to work. Basically, she said they just want to verify that the skin graft really and truly adheres at which point I'm good to go. Although it sounds like I will be a one handed typist for a while. Not the most efficient Quinn but it has to be better than no Quinn, right??

So, I have an appointment next Wednesday to check and see if the rub points have healed. If they have, then I'll give it another week to set and then I'm hoping to return to work on 8/6.

As Sookie would say, "Let's boot and rally people!".