Leftovers

6:30 AM - Quietly the nurse states, “Janice needs to have the staples removed from her leg now.”  No, she’s still sleeping. “Okay, I’ll tell the day nurse.”  Let us not fail to mention that Janice didn’t know that she had staples in her leg. I mean that I didn’t know that I had staples in my leg. Now removing staples can never be a good, painless event. This is taking place all down the outer right thigh where the steel rod was placed to secure the broken bone. Why can’t we just leave the staples right where they are? Oh, we just can’t as the flesh just merely grows around the staple. Dang me.

Then the oncologist shows up ordering the removal of the original PICC line. Removal of 12 - 18 inches of tubing just under the skin. Oh, this is too much information for you. Well, let me tell you that Shelby also felt that it was just too much information. When the nurse took out the staples Shelby found a nice quiet place somewhere within a 50 yard safety zone outside the dangerous removal episode.

Saved by physical therapist Jody. “Let’s go for our exercise, and today we’ll go without the walker and just work with a cane.”  Come on gang, this is just pure bullying. I just mastered the walker and it’s never good enough for you guys. So off I head down the hall with my right hand grasping the cane and my left hand flapping in the wind like a blind man reaching for a wall. “It’s a lot to learn,” Jody reassures me. Just make sure that we aren’t late for our 11 AM arm exercise class I proclaim. Shelby and I are certain of the importance of remaining fully involved in all treatment and recovery.

After our exercise class and a boring lunch it was time for the PICC removal. Two pain pills and one final infusion of Ativan in the old PICC line was just for good measure. Shelby climbed up near the top of my bed, I put my head inside a pillowcase and the nurse began removing the line. I always hated and revered that ‘life line’. The nurse pulls at the tape making certain not to tear the skin. That was certainly the most difficult part and then within moments she proclaimed, “All done - it’s all out.” I’m blind and Shelby is passing out. Thirty minutes later we decided that we didn’t like that at all. Shelby said, “You know I never woke up and thought that when I grow up I want to be a nurse.”

Shelby headed home into the safety of motherhood and Paige rolled in for her afternoon visit following my Helen-Update. Paige got the second PT round and I had a modest tearful breakdown at what a setback it felt like to go from the skill level of the walker into the full fear level of the cane. Progress is slow and emotionally painful. Today ran the full range of gain and glory along with pain and worry. There is a slight rumor that I might head home within a week. Radiation begins tomorrow and chemotherapy resumes on Thursday. One foot in front of the other will get me forward - I just keep walking - and now it’s no longer on a broken leg. And at home are my two cats and the Pacific Ocean.