Good thing I’m over the bikini days!  Although, I could eventually turn this scar into a really great tree tattoo.  Ouch.  No stomach tattoos for me!!!

All is still going pretty well.  Over the last several days, as my incision heals, there was a hard part towards the top.  I figured it was probably scar tissue forming, so I Googled it and the scar tissue explanation came up for many posts on “healing wounds”.  It was about the size of a big marble, didn’t really hurt and was not hot or profoundly redder than other healing areas of the incision.  Yesterday that all kind of changed.  It seemed redder, and bigger, more annoying and a little suspicious.  Like I’d traded a soft tennis ball for a hard golf ball.  When I woke from an afternoon nap, I looked at it again and thought, “Crap, it’s Friday afternoon and if this gets any worse, I’m going to end up in the ER over the weekend!”  Don’t these things always happen at night and on the weekends?  I took a picture and sent it to my sister.  She and her husband had travelled here from Minnesota for my surgery, so she’d seen the incision when I was in the hospital (not only seen it, but sent a picture of it to many family members!!).  She also thought it had changed and wasn’t looking “right” and told me to get in to the clinic.  So, it’s 3:25pm on a Friday afternoon and I called the clinic.  The nurse, thankfully, called back within 10 minutes.  (thanks Laura!!!!!)  My surgeon just happens to be on call (seriously, Thank you God!!) and she said I absolutely should come in.  Actually, they wanted me there by 4:15pm and that was impossible.  She asked if I could get there before 5pm.  We live in Lead and the Clinic is in Spearfish.  Tom’s work is in Spearfish.  So, Tom had to drive from Spearfish to Lead, (through construction zones in Deadwood that have 20 minute delays) and get me back to Spearfish.  An average round trip would be 60 minutes, not including construction delays.  I called Tom at 3:38pm and he headed up the hill at 3:41pm to retrieve me.  There was no delay through the construction and the road had been graded, so it was relatively smooth (we’ve been taking a longer detour to avoid the bumps.  Ouch!).  He pulled in front of the house at approx. 4:07pm.  He informed me about the road and really thought it would be quicker to go through the construction.  I completely trusted his opinion and we went for it.  He was right and he pulled up to the front door of the clinic at 4:30pm.  No speeding, no driving like Mario Andretti.  It was like time had “warped” for us. It seemed to me that it was yet another piece falling into place.  The thought of what I figured was about to happen made me cringe with an anticipatory pain, but I tried to push that thought from my mind.  It did end up being an abscess, full of the four letter P-word that abscesses are full of.  Tom came in with me and watched as my doctor cleaned it out (yes, ouch!  and understandably gross) and then packed it with Iodoform packing.  This will now be my sweet husband’s daily job for like the next three weeks.  I asked him, “Will you be able to do this?”  and his reply was, “Will you let me?”  (specific prayers today at 3pm MST would greatly appreciated!!).  I have also added two antibiotics to my arsenal of medication.

We are on day three without water pressure.  At least we can take “gravity” showers and the water is hot. I mean really, it could be so much worse!!  Sounds like it will be this way at least through the weekend.

One more thing of interest to share today: The pathology report is back from Mayo.  It IS a GIST (gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor).  A GIST is like the “little brother” of sarcoma (as opposed to carcinoma, which is more of a monster).  It did have a “high malignant potential” so when I heal up from the surgery, I will be referred to an oncologist.  Won’t know exactly what happens next until then, but it sounds like this type of thing is usually treated with an oral medication (not chemo).  I see it as a preventative and precaution, similar to not feeding an adorable Mogwai after Midnight, no matter how much he begs, or you’ll end up with a naughty, troublemaking Gremlin!  This type of tumor generally stays in the intestinal area and doesn’t metastasize to other areas of the body.  This is all very good news and remains “best case scenario”.  Oh, and the gastric margin where the mass was removed was negative. Negative = good.

I had forgotten that she also found a spot on my liver during surgery  (they told me about it during that “don’t tell her anything she needs to remember” time and never mentioned it again) and removed it to be tested.  It came back benign and totally unrelated.  More like a “mole on the liver”.

It has stopped raining here after days of mist, drizzle and thunderstorms.  The world outside is full of beautiful hues of green against the intense blue of our Black Hills sky.

Enjoy your Saturday!