Happy Mothers Day to all my wonderful daughters and daughters-in-law. You are all doing so well raising your children and organizing your families and being wonderful homemakers! I’m very proud of you all!
In case anybody didn’t hear about Dad’s surgery adventure, I’ll recap it here. Tuesday morning he had the squamous cell carcinoma cut out of his neck, a circle about an inch and a half across, and as thin as a piece of skin. The doctor was able to pull enough loose skin together to sew it up, without a skin graft, and it looked really good. (If a Frankenstein scar can look good.) Dad was supposed to go home and take it easy, and he mostly did, except for going up and down the stairs a couple of times. So what happened next wasn’t his fault. About 2 pm the incision broke open and blood started pouring down his neck, soaking his shirt. I honestly thought he was going to bleed to death. I had him hold gauze pads over the wound, but the blood poured through anyway. I was (miraculously) able to get his doctor on the phone, and he said we both needed to calm down. (“Each of you take a deep breath,” he said.) Nobody has ever bled to death from this procedure. He said to keep applying pressure, and it would stop bleeding eventually. It did, but not until late that night. The next morning we met the doctor in his office, and he said it looked OK. Dad was supposed to hold ice packs over it, and we needed to drop by again later in the afternoon. (Since it was Wednesday, we were in Salt Lake anyway.) So we came back at 3 pm, and the doctor said it was going to be fine. It looks terrible, but it’s gradually getting better, and Dad is feeling better.
Unlike me. My incision is still open, and still hurts terribly. My doctor said this could go on for another four weeks. I guess I’ll stand it somehow. I discovered I could double up on my pain medication–just because our insurance coverage limits me to just one pill every four hours, I can pay for more out of my pocket. As long as the doctor prescribes it, the pharmacy will fill it. Anyway, it’s not a narcotic, but ultram. Katie told me it doesn’t do any good, but it’s helping me. That, and everybody’s prayers. So I’m taking two ultram every four hours, and making it through each day. Someday I’ll look back on all this and think it was good for me. Right now I can’t see the big picture.
So I dyed my hair pink. It was easy. I bought a pouch of pink dye off Amazon, and it only took a little bit to really brighten up my hair. It will wash out eventually, but I’m enjoying my new look now. If you can’t do anything else to make your life better, at least you can change your hair color.
Lots of love, Mom
