I know that since I am on prednisone and a ton of other medications it takes a bit longer to heal than most people. But it seems like even things that seem pretty much healed (meaning not scabbed over any more, etc.) are still red. Here is an example of where the line was in my neck...while the hole itself is completely closed and flat like its not even there its still VERY red which makes the stupid thing noticeable.
This is only one example. With the amount of surgeries I have had since I have been in Gainesville (9 to be exact) my poor body looks like a road map that belongs in an Atlas of the USA!!
So I was just wondering how long I will have my lovely body souvenirs around as a reminder of my time here in good old Northern Florida and when I can look forward to finally having them start fading away a little bit.
I do realize that it has only been two months since my transplant and 2 weeks since my arterial bypass surgery so I don't expect to be completely fine at this point but I will be honest and say it makes me feel a little bad knowing I look like this right now. Last night as Danny was helping change some of my bandages I actually started crying cause I felt so bad. And of course he was completely wonderful and says I am beautiful no matter what and I know he means it but I was still sad. :(
Anyway..thats all I got for tonight. Gotta go blow-dry my hair and then we are gonna watch a movie. I have my first post-tx clinic in the morning so that means its early rising for us!!
Good Night Ya'll!
XoxoX
6 comments:
Mine has been so far back, I don't remember exactly, but I do know that you need to be eating a lot of protein so that you will heal faster. I lost my hair after both of my transplants, and even though they thought it was from Prograf after my lung tx, they knew it was something different when I lost it again after my kidney transplant. (I had been on Prograf for years and my dosage hadn't increased with the new transplant). So I had once nurse explain how the protein in your body goes towards healing your wounds and away from things like hair follicles. I'm not saying that everyone loses their hair, but this is just an example.
I think that you seem to be healing just fine. Truly! Time sometimes seems to stand still post-tx while you are waiting to rehabilitate, heal, and get your prednisone lowered. LOL. You are doing fabulous! XO
Jeeze, can you tell I'm tired from my previous post? Sorry about the spelling and grammatical mistakes. LOL.
I am not a post-tx patient, nor am I on immune supressing drugs - but I can tell you on 7/29/10, I had pretty major surgery on my left shoulder and the surgeon put a catheter in my neck that threaded all the way into my shoulder joint to provide continuous pain control (novacaine-like med). It took at least 6 months for that scar to go away. I can still see it in the mirror although people that didn't see me with it don't notice it. It was also much smaller than your catheter.
Hope that helps and I do love your blog - your courage is inspiring.
Taryn
took me a while for sure. i would say i looked pretty well like an "atlas" for about 3-5 months, although some scars definitely faded faster than others. i'm 8 months out and i can still see pinkness around my chest tube scars, though they look good in my opinion. it probably was about 4 months out or so when i started actually liking my scars and feeling like they worked well on my body.
it's a process. i know it sounds super trite, but try as hard as possible to focus on what IS getting better rather than what isn't. i really struggled with that, but it does get easier as you go along. in the meantime, i 100% agree with danny -- you are SUCH a beautiful girl and i know a couple of scars doesn't change that one bit.
much love, jen.
It definitely too me awhile. I especially remember the scar in my neck from the central line catheter and whatever else they put through me (lol) in that area. My chest tube scars/holes took a long time to heal, but then again, I had two of my chest tubes for 2 months. You are definitely on track...healing fine.
And definitely eat protein...what Christy said..that is important. I also lost a LOT of my hair after my transplant from the Prograf (or so they say it was from that). It took me a good 6 months to start growing it back (with the help of special shampoo/root conditioning and a short haircut). But now my hair is thicker than ever.
Hang in there!!
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