OVER HILL, OVER DALE.....

It's been an uphill grind but now it should be a little easier. Or maybe I should say it's been a tough road so far but it will still be an uphill grind to full recovery...........but I'm sure you are reading this to find out about Karen ............so enough about me (JUST KIDDING!......geezz lighten up will ya). Anyway, it's going to be difficult to write something "new" everyday since her progress is going to be slow and go from now on. She continues to back off of pain meds (to less than half what she was taking when she first got home), she is more and more able to get up and sit down unassisted, shower without wound protection, eating practically anything she wants, no needs now from the in home nursing care,.......overall pretty darn good for being only 15 days out from major surgery.
     Maybe you might like a little detail as to what she went through.  Karen was diagnosed with a chondrosarcoma which is a rare form of bone cancer (give or take only about 1% of bone cancer cases) that typically grows out of the cartilage. So most Doctors see maybe one case in their entire career, if that. It was, in her case, pain free and very slow growing........hence the trap......we thought it was nothing for quite some time; until it was evident that it had definitely gotten bigger. (So all of you out there with bumps and lumps that don't bother you......... have them checked out anyway!) The surgeon removed the tumor which resided on her sternum directly over her heart. He also removed a "wide margin" beyond the tumor. That means about 5 inches wide and about 7 inches high overall. He filled the "gap" with a plastic type material similar to denture material (according to our dentist). It was embedded in a mesh which was sewn to her remaining ribs and etc. He then moved an ab muscle with skin attached up to the void. He said when it heals, if her stomach "itched" she would have to "scratch" her chest until her mind "figured things out". Right now it has no feeling. So until her rib cage heals and stabilizes she is not allowed to lift, pull, or push anything. So the better she feels the harder it's going to be to control herself. Anyway so this is the slow and go phase of things. I'll be back online with another post as significant events occur.
Until then,
Karen's helpmate