June 28, 2003

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  The surgery went ok. I didn’t get to speak to the surgeon afterwards, because he was back in surgery with another patient, so I don’t know exactly what he had to do or if there were any complications. We had been told before the surgery by the male nurse (the same one I had for both my surgical biopsy & mastectomy there) that it could take an hour & a half to two hours. It appears to have taken the full two hours. The funny thing is that my son wanted a more definitive figure of how long it would take when the doc stopped by just before the surgery. With that doc, it’s hard to tell if his ‘feathers got ruffled’ or that he was actually joking… he doesn’t smile much. He gave a rather curt response, saying he’d already been told how long, then said we wouldn’t want him to rush. I replied that he should take as long as he needs to do it right.

  
  

   

  
  

  I didn’t want to leave while my son was in surgery, but there were things I needed to do while in town & my son said he didn’t want to hang in town while I did what I needed to. I got back just 15 minutes after he came out of surgery, so I timed it ok, although I had wanted to be back at the hour & a half mark.

  
  

   

  
  

  I took care of dropping off my paperwork to get my property deed stuff, leaving a note for the realtor, since he wasn’t in, sliding it under his door. I also went by the County building to get a temporary disabled parking permit, which I already had my oncologist fill out last week. I wouldn’t bother with one, but my feet, legs, knees & back have been quite painful lately. I can’t stand for long & walking on hard surfaces makes my feet especially achy. This has been going on for about 3 weeks now & not getting any better. I don’t know what’s going on that’s causing it. I’ve been on the waiting list to see a VA rheumatologist for months now. She only comes to this island every other month & so currently can’t see other patients. My record states that this request went in last December, but I’m sure it was the time I saw the regular VA doc before that. Once I get to see her, perhaps I can get the temporary disabled parking permit turned into a permanent one. The interesting thing about when I went to the permit office is that the woman who helped me get it works with a woman who has fibromyalgia, like me, & understands how bad things can get for us at times. She couldn’t figure out why my doc only gave me 6 months, As it stands, I could have gotten a temporary one just for my son!
  

   

  
  

  I also meant to take care of renewing my car insurance & adding the Jeep I recently bought onto it. Unfortunately, they don’t open until 10 AM, so that’ll have to wait for now. Another thing on my agenda was getting cat food from Wal-Mart, but they didn’t get the type in I feed my kitties. They had been out yesterday & the associate who worked in that department yesterday said they’d have some this morning. It never showed up. I can only feed my kitties certain brands & types of cat food, or some of them get diarrhea. Since Wal-Mart didn’t get the type in they can eat, I had to stop in Pahoa town on the way back for another brand (Nutra-Nugget) they can eat. These contain reasonable levels of taurine, a necessary enzyme for good health in carnivorous animals (including humans!). The other Wal-Mart brand cat food doesn’t list it in either the nutrients or the ingredients, even though that cat food is more expensive! Minimally, kitties should receive 0.0125% taurine levels in their food. The Special Kitty Original flavor has that amount. The Gourmet flavor does not.

  
  

   

  
  

  I later found out that a barge on its way to Hilo had some difficulties & got stuck out at sea. The perishables onboard are being donated to the Food Bank, because of the time delay, causing the stuff to be too old to sell as fresh. This will help the Food Bank tremendously, since they had been so low on commodities since the shipping strike last year along with the poor economy.
  

   

  
  

  When I got there & they let me into recovery, he was awake & trembling from being cold. So much so that his teeth were chattering uncontrollably. They were covering him with a couple thermal blankets & a special ‘blanket’ that is inflated with heated air. What an interesting invention! At Tripler, as well as Hilo Medical Center’s ER, they use blankets warmed in a special oven. My son spent an hour in Recovery, with the nurse constantly checking his bios & recording them, as well as monitoring his IV drip rate. Carl complained of a sudden headache & the nurse put a shot of the same narcotic they use during surgery for the pain. Before removing the IV when the recovery hour was up, she gave him a different narcotic through the IV port.

  
  

   

  
  

  With my new parking permit, I was parked right next to the entrance, with direct access on the passenger side. It was a simple matter for him to get into the Jeep once the last nurse (there had been 2 during his recovery) wheeled him out in a wheelchair. When the day before, we went for his crutches training, I was surprised to learn that he’s tall enough that he can turn around & sit on the seat without having to step up on something. I’m not tall enough (damn short legs!).

  
  

   

  
  

  Another stop on the way home was the pharmacy for the antibiotics & pain medicine my son will need to take for awhile. We got home by 2:30, five & a half hours after his surgery commenced. He napped during most of the ride & had napping most of the time at home the rest of that day. He wasn’t very hungry so didn’t eat any supper. We did go through MacDonald’s drive-through for 2 double cheeseburgers for him & a grilled chicken large combo for me.

  
  

  
  

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  The following day, we had to go back to Hilo for his follow-up after surgery appointment. The doc removed the ‘air cast’ that was on the outside, filled with cold water to reduce the swelling & the semi-rigid brace that my son had more complaints about than anything else. He grumbled that the brace was causing most of his pain. The doc unwrapped the bandages, removed the tape over the surgical wounds & poked a bit at them. The wounds looked great! There was very little blood stains on the bandages, which looked like they had been there from when the bandages were applied. There was swelling, but not as much as I expected.

  
  

   

  
  

  While replacing the bandages, the doc told us that he is to use the brace while walking & at night, while sleeping. The ‘air cast’ is to be used for 20 minutes on, 20 off. My son was very relieved that he isn’t having to wear either one all the time. I asked about how much of the hamstring tendons he removed & he said, “All of them, about 23 centimeters.” This, I couldn’t quite understand. I thought he’d remove part of them, enough to use for the cruciate ligaments, then reconnect them, since they can stretch out. He said that “they will re-grow, scar up.” I said sort of like a fingertip re-growing if not stitched closed & he said, “No, we’re not lizards.” I’m confused. I know how important the hamstrings are for bending the leg. Or at least I thought I did. It seems like my son will never have 100% use of that leg again.

  
  

   

  
  

  He’s scheduled to see the doc next on Tuesday. He told my son he wants him to be able to bend his knee 90 degrees by then. He’s going to take X-rays then as well, to make sure everything is lining up properly, I assume. We also learned from the nurses that the doc is going to show us pictures from the surgery. Good! I had mentioned to my son that if they did a video of the surgery, I wanted to see it. He couldn’t understand why, saying that’d be gross, so I told him I’m nosey & besides have been watching many different types of surgeries on Discovery Health.

  
  

   

  
  

  This doc is a Fellow with the University of Hawaii, Hilo, teaching athletic orthopaedic surgery & is also the surgeon for the University’s athletes. His mom was also a surgeon (now retired, though still alive at 90!), the first female surgeon in the State of Hawaii, if I’m not mistaken, so he has a good background. I have to keep telling myself that, knowing his background, he has to be doing what’s right & best for my son.

  
  

   

  
  

  We went to Wal-Mart, where they did have one bag left of the kitty food I get, so I got it. I also picked up some local-type crafting items. I’m going to make a Hawaiian seed lei for myself. I also got some suede leather pieces, a punch kit & suede lacing to make a couple items like a cigarette case with lighter pocket, a coin purse & a little pouch for my partials (false teeth), since I tend to take them out alot & have already lost my permanent ones & am now using the temporary ones the dentist made up himself for me.

  
  

   

  
  

  While at W-M, I also stopped in the insurance office, located inside W-M. I finally got my Jeep insured. The Toyota is still being covered by the State welfare insurance through the end of July, so I’ll transfer it onto my Jeep’s policy at that time. Next, my son wanted to go to Border’s Books & Music because he wanted a magazine he couldn’t find elsewhere. I almost wish I hadn’t gone in because I found a few PC magazines with special software, some complete, some trial versions, that looked worth checking out. One of the magazines I picked up is the official WindowsXP one, with full version software CD. Not cheap, at $14, but perhaps the software will be worth it. I just wish the CD contained the Plus themes that I miss so badly that I used on Win98SE, including my gecko & mouse cursors. In checking online for the Plus themes for XP, I learned they have to be bought, whereas with 98SE, they were on the Windows CD, but had to be installed.

  
  

  
  

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  Yesterday & today, we’ve mostly been home. My son’s been playing video games but sneaking onto my computer to go online for game guides info on particular gaming things when I go outside for a bit. I’ve been doing a bit of weeding & pruning in my yard for a change, since I’ve gone back to taking the one anti-depressant with the ‘side-effect’ of repelling mosquitos. I can’t work for long out there, though, because my back, legs, knees & feet get to aching bad in a short time. I’ve not been taking any anti-inflammatory/pain medication (like ibuprophen) on a regular basis anymore, so figure that’s why I’m dealing with pain again so much. I only take one once in awhile, when it becomes bad & I think about & bother digging one out.

  
  

  
  

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  Yesterday evening, I cooked stew beef cubes in a large skillet pan, along with plenty of vegetables. Being one who hates fat in meat, as well as the tough tendons, I couldn’t be happy with just cutting the cubes smaller… I had to cut out all the non-meat stuff. Unfortunately, that meant my prep time extended from just a few minutes to almost an hour, on my feet, making me ache miserably. That included the time cutting up the veggies.

  
  

   

  
  

  My concoction was good, seasoned with many herbs & spices as well as shoyu, which were added to the meat right in the beginning. Sometimes, if I think about what I’m going to cook ahead of time, I’ll make a marinade out of the seasonings, letting the meat marinade for at least 4 hours & up to a day, in the refrigerator. I added soy flour toward the end of the cooking to thicken the broth.

  
  

   

  
  

  Cooking time for my one skillet meal is long (about 2 hours), because I cook at a low temperature so the meat is thoroughly cooked & then tender. The veggies are added once the meat is almost thoroughly cooked (after an hour), with 2 medium-sized red potatoes added first, about 1″ cubed. Once the potatoes were almost done (about a half hour later), I threw in the other veggies, which included 4 full leaves of bok choi (Chinese cabbage); 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4″ thick rounds; 2 celery stalks, including the leaves they leave on, also about 1/4″ thick & a full broccoli bunch, cut fairly small. I then add about a half cup of water to help steam the veggies. If I have them, I also add mushrooms, sometimes canned, sometimes fresh. The other veggies were all fresh. I know for a fact that the broccoli I buy is non-spray, because I have found small ‘inch worms’ within the florets occasionally in the past.

  
  

   

  
  

  I serve the meat & veggies over plain white rice, although one could serve fancy rice or brown rice. The items for the meal totaled up to about $10 & was enough to make 4 good-sized meals. Since there are only 2 of us, the leftovers get eaten for lunch or supper the next day.

  • 11:28 pm
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