Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Follow-up

Sunday morning after my last post, I awoke to find blood and clear body fluid coming out of my navel. This is where the main incision was made and the site of removal of my gall bladder. Also, the pain I was previously experiencing had decreased. In spite of that fact, I freaked. No one wants stuff coming out of their belly button, especially when the month before, a surgeon has used that place to get into one's guts.

Monday morning I called my surgeon and explained what was happening. They told me to watch the color and amount of fluid, and also to watch for signs of infection. They would see me on Wednesday. My head was saying, "WEDNESDAY??? Did you not hear me? I'm leaking STUFF out of me! Wednesday is two whole days away! Don't you mean, 'COME IN IMMEDIATELY!!!'???"

I waited until Wednesday. I felt miserable. I had no idea why I was leaking, and the area was swollen and sore.

When I saw the surgeon, he determined that my incision had developed a tiny hole. There was even an official medical word for it. I have no idea what it was. I was a little distracted by the fact that body fluids were seeping out of my tiny incision hole. The surgeon stuffed packing into my already sore belly button and placed a gauze bandage on my stomach, assuring me that in two or three weeks the hole will seal. I didn't mention that I'm allergic to the tape he used to fasten the bandage to my body. I'm a little tired of all the things my body hates, and a rash right now is the least of my worries. Also, Aaron got laid off that day.

I see my surgeon again on Friday. In the meantime, I feel really, really tired. I don't know if it's the time of year-- this is when I accompany millions of students for juries, festivals, and concerts, so I'm rehearsing several hours daily in addition to my regular jobs-- or if it's the result of leaking constantly. Maybe it's both.

Yesterday was grueling. I had my first rehearsal at 7:45 a.m. and my last one ended at 7:30p.m. I had three hours in-between different rehearsals. I spent that time working on a rush file for transcription. My hands were done around 6 that night. The final rehearsal did not go well.

Aaron asked for some help with his resume last night, but I was still working on the transcription file. I finished at 10 p.m. and offered to help. We were both too tired. Aaron had hoped to have several job applications in by this time, but he's working for the school one last week and this eats up much of his day. I'll see if we can work on his resume sometime today and get it to a couple of jobsites he's been looking at.

I keep telling myself that this will all slow down after next week. I have performances every day and then nothing big until June, so I can spend some time regrouping and lesson planning for summer music institute. I have a feeling nothing will ever slow down, and actually, I'm okay with that. But I would really, really like to wake up one morning with a normal belly button. This thing that's happening now is not okay.

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