Brace gone, It's memory lingers in my flesh; Olive Garden
Friday, August 10, 2012 at 10:38AM 
This is Lynx, taking a ride in the elevator up to the floor where the office of my surgeon, Dr. O'Malley, is located. On this visit, the doctor removed the bottom half of the brace he had implanted in my tummy following the July 9 emergency surgery, along with the poker chip-like buttons to which it had been anchored with surgical thread, drawn so tight it had pulled the buttons right down into the flesh, leaving some nasty-looking sores and open, bloody, patches, all encompassed in two horrid-looking raw-flesh circles, each the size of a poker chip, just a little bit below and to either side of where my belly-button had been before being converted into a big, gaping, ugly chasm.
He filled this chasm with silver nitrate. It stung and burned like hell. He says this open chasm will glaze over in about a week and then take from one to two months to heal completely. Once it does, he says, it will look okay. Given the ugly horror one now sees upon looking at my suture, this is kind of hard to believe, but we will see. Not that many people ever see my belly-button area anyway, but when it is seen, like maybe if we somehow wind up on the beach in Hawaii this summer, I would prefer the scar not to even resemble the horrific sight it now is.
It is a little frustrating to think that had the original infection not developed so soon after surgery, leading to a loss of staples, a wound that then had to stay open and was so week, my cough tore it apart and led to the emergency surgery and all that followed, I would almost certainly be recovered by now. I could be moving around, finding ways to make a living and my medical debt would be scores of thousands of dollars less than what it is.
But what is, is, and this is the situation I am in, the situation I must work with and, at long last, it does truly appear I am healing and making good progress toward full recovery.
The doc thought I would feel considerable relief almost immediately after he removed the brace and the retention stitch and staples he took out with it. I felt a little bit, but the brace had driven its memory so deeply into my tissues that even though it was gone, I could still feel it as if it were still there - kind of like sometimes when you wear a hat for a long time and then take it off, you still feel the hat on your head.
Afterwards, Jacob and Lavina treated us to my first-ever meal at the new Olive Garden that opened in Anchorage last winter. Margie and I had tried to go there a number of times, but the estimtaed had always been about 45 minutes to one hour long, so we,had never stayed. This time, we arrived about 5:00 PM, were given a wait time of 5 minutes, so we stayed.
Down in the Lower 48, I have had some absolutely superb dining experiences at Olive Garden. This one was good and we enjoyed it, but it fell short of superb.
If Melanie had been here, we would have gone to Milano's to eat that pizza I dreamed about while on the pre-surgery liquid diet/fast. She is doing a job up on the Denali highway where she is required to carry a gun, just in case a bear gets out of hand, and gets to ride in a helicopter every day. From the beginning, we had agreed she would be there for the pizza when fantasy at last becomes reality. Maybe next week.
We spent more than two hours at Olive Garden. We did not arrive home in Wasilla until somewhere between 8:00 and 9:00 pm and found Caleb and Mo watching Olympics. I settled into my recliner as if I intended to watch, too, but I had not had a nap all day. I had to close my eyes. I fell asleep until after 11:00. By the time I awoke, the residual memory of the brace and the pokerchip buttons had left my flesh. There is still plenty of soreness there, but it is such a relief to have that apparatus removed from my gut. I have new mobility and can move in ways and do things I could not yesterday.
I did not take a pain pill when I went to bed. I have taken none today. I hope to take no more at all. We will see.
Reader Comments (4)
I'm so happy to read you're healing and the pain has lessened, albeit slower than was expected. Sounds like Melanie has an exciting job! Must be so beautiful where she's working. Of course, I love seeing pictures of the boys and family! Please tell Kalib I think his T-Rex shirt is awesome. Sam has many similar shirts, all sorts of dinos involved. Rawr!
Great big step today! How great. Be patient with yourself and things will improve a little every day.
just caught up with your adventures, bill. glad you finally had your tasty pizza at the olive garden. luv the photo of lynx in the laundry basket.
good news , good to read.