March 4, 2011

The drain is gone.... Woo Hoo..... I tried to pull the miserable thing out, but gave up because of the pain, and for fear of doing serious damage. It felt like the thing was wrapped around some important body part, and I didn’t know what I would do if I managed to yank my spleen out.

My doctor is in the heart of Los Angeles, about 80 miles away, much of it in heavy traffic. When I got there, I was told that the doc. had just gone into surgery, and would be there for some time....
Some delay earlier in the day causing traffic to back up in the OR. I could wait for a few hours, or reschedule. Neither being a good option, I decided to wait, but threatened to throw the drain bulb into an elevator and push the button.

Eventually nurse Jacky (her real name, and a really nice lady) came out and told me that the doc. said for her to remove the drain, and so she did. The trick is.... don’t stop pulling when it hurts... LOL

It turns out that the inside part of the apparatus is larger than the outside part. The skin and abdominal wall grow tightly around the tube, making it difficult to remove.

I am very happy to be drain free, although it will take a while to get used to it. I still reach for it when I get into the car, or roll over in bed. I guess that it became like an extra appendage.

I am leaving Monday for 9 days in Pa. visiting my family, so, for once, the timing was perfect.