I have a hole in my belly, and my sister is stuffing it!

I went back to see Dr. Wolf, because of the belly fluid problem. Also, because of my abdominal pain. He said that I probably have a low grade infection. McDreamy opened me up and then he poked around inside my belly. This is how it went.

"I'm going to try and draw out fluid with a needle first." I looked at the needle, which was HUGE, and asked if it would hurt. He told me that it wouldn't because I was numb from the surgery. Sure enough, when he poked me with the needle, I felt only the pressure, but no pain. There was also no fluid. So, he had to go to the next step. He asked the nurse to hand him a knife, which had a pretty purple handle. And then he reopened about 1.5 inches of surgery scar. He looks at me, and asks if I can feel it. I can't. By now, I had my hands behind my head and am watching the whole thing. He sticks his finger in, trying to find out if the surgical site was separating. Imagine my surprise if I were to wake up a little too close to my intestines in the middle of the night. He couldn't feel any separation of the surgical wound. And still, I couldn't feel anything. Amazing. So then they packed my now open belly wound with gauze. It turns out they shoved a good 8 inches of gauze into my belly. How do I know this? Well, Lori, my brave sister, has to change my dressings once a day for a week. When she began pulling it out, it just kept coming, like a magician's handkerchiefs. I'm on antibiotics now and have an appointment with Dr. McDreamy Wolf for next week.

Today, I had a taste of some delicious crab cakes my nephew, Elijah, sent to me from the east coast, where he lives. I'm looking forward to eating a whole crab cake when I am feeling better. YUMMY!

Mom is going home tomorrow, hopefully. The weather is getting frightful this weekend, but she has studs and a purpose. I still need help getting up (now, because of my abdominal infection/pain), but she raised me to allow sharing. She needs to see all her grandbabies at Christmas. Lori will be helping me out, and I may be staying with her for a few days after mom leaves. My hope is that the soreness wil go away quickly, after starting my antibiotics.

Here is something very cute and adorable. My 13 yr old neighbor, Christopher, came over today asking if he could mow my lawn, which is currently under 3 inches of snow. How cute is that? He would have mowed it nicely too!

I miss everyone: family, work, friends. I'm very happy right now. My nephew, Jason, just graduated with his Ph.D. in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space science from U of Michigan this last week. My niece, Channi, just graduated with her Bachelors in Special Education from BYU - Idaho this past week as well. My other nephew, Kevin, will be receiving his Masters in Accounting from Boise State University this next week. Best of all, I just had Verizon Fios installed for digital TV and internet. So, while I exist in pain these days, they are also happy days. I'm so proud of everyone.