Carmen, if you're going to have bad news and a tough surgery, it sure as heck
pays to get great care and to have the mental and physical toughness to put it
behind you quickly.

Wishing for all good things to come for both of you.

Susan

As bad as the situation is, it's good that it's going well - hang in
there.  You're in my prayers.

I'm so happy to hear that things are going so well.  Sarge must be a very
special person to have such strength to get through this ordeal.  He is an
example to us all and you are also Carmen.  I believe that all things happen
for a reason and hopefully this will lead to better things for others.  It
also is a true testament to what is possible if we have faith and hold onto
the strength that He gives us.  Please let Sarge know he will continue to be
in my thoughts and prayers.  :o)

Kelly

and thank dog for that.

I'm so glad that Sarge is healing well.  My prayers continue to be with you
adn your family.

~Carol Ann
www.lowcarblosers.com ~ Home of the Monthly Weightloss Challenge

Isn't that remarkable!

Good planning.

God speed, Carmen.

Marsha/Ohio

Glad to hear things are off to a flying start.  Best of luck with the chemo.

--
Tara
www.dazzled.com/lowcarb - my homepage

I'm glad to hear things went so well, Carmen.  Sarge sounds like a remarkable
man.  Your mention of phantom pain made me smile at a memory.  My elderly mother-
in-law had to have her leg amputated.  Later she was telling me about the
"fantasy pain" she kept having.  I informed her that it was "phantom pain", not
"fantasy pain" and that "fantasy pain" usually involved leather, whips and spike
heels.  She liked that one :-)

Carmen  burbled across the ether:

I'm very glad that things went well for you and Sarge.  Sending healing
vibes your way.

Hugs to both of you.

Well, I saw your name in another thread and was going to ask.  I'm
glad things are going as well as they are.  I have been thinking
about both of you--and did remember the date of the surgery,
because it was my mom's b'day.  Hugs to both of you.

Hello,
Well, we're back from the hospital and Howard's surgery went well. The
surgeons left as much of the forearm as they could, and went to great
lengths to do all they could to try and prevent phantom pain (pain that
is felt in the part of the body that is no longer there). They used a
technique that involved batheing the nerve bundle with a constant
catheter of local anesthetic before, during and two days after the
surgery. Studies show that there's a lower incidence of phantom pain in
people who're treated this way. The proposed reason is the nerves don't
ever experience the trauma of the surgery and therefore don't develop a
"memory effect".
He's healing at lightspeed, and at two days post surgery the surgeons
(as well as myself) were really pleased with how well the wound was
doing when it was time to take the dressing off. He had a brief episode
of fever, but that was the only untoward part of his hospital stay. He
was operated on Tuesday morning and released Saturday morning. He's
driving again (he'd practiced doing it one-handed for over a month
before surgery), his pain is getting better every day and except for not
being able to tie his shoes yet he's pretty much self sufficient. The
mental part of the healing process is also going pretty well - he
finally made himself look at the stump and dealt well with that. He's
also had no problems with public jaunts - thank goodness for his strong
sense of self. :-)
Next step is chemo (he's got an appointment with his oncologist in Ohio
next week to plan that), and the myoelectric prosthetic fittings will
begin within a month or so as well.
Overall, things are going well. Since some of you are probably wondering
but might not want to ask, the hand served as an excellent teaching tool
for the interns in the orthopedic arena. Eisenhower is a teaching
hospital, and in addition to using the hand to teach I saw several other
examples. In one case an anesthesiology tech was teaching nurses (the
anesthetic for the nerves is something that one isn't likely to see
where insurance is running the show so he had to explain what it was
for).

--------------------------------

Carmen, you have a truly remarkable man there. And you're not to shabby
yourself!
<G> I'm so glad all went well. I wish all the best for both of you.

Regards; Marty

And the support of a strong woman.

Keep us posted.

Excellent!

Best wishes to the pair of you!

April.
Put out the cat.

"Carmen" <carmensrt@hotmail.com> wrote...

Hey--I missed this yesterday.

Glad to hear things are going well (overall).  I've read and re-read your post.
You have an amazing capacity to pluck the positive out of really shitty
situations.  You understand that as bad as it sometimes gets, it could always be
worse.  I just love that about you.

All the best to you and yours.

eff

I'm so glad to hear that he's recovering from surgery so well.

Glad to here all is well Carmen. All is well here too.

I am so glad to hear that the surgery went smoothly, and that Sarge's
recovery is progressing so well!  It sounds like he's getting great
care.

I hope your daughter is doing OK.  I know you are probably very
conscious of respecting her privacy on the NG, but do know that many
of us are thinking about her, too.  Parents are supposed to be
indestructible, after all, and it's scary when we realize they aren't.
I am definitely thinking of her as well as you and Sarge!

Best,

T.

Hello all,
Once again the support is a wonderful source of strength for us.
Howard is still getting better all the time.  His stitches come out on
Monday, there's still no sign of phantom pain (I liked Saffire's
grandmother's "fantasy pain" <G>), and the overall pain level is
dropping.  We've gone out and done a few geocaches (the weather is a
gorgeous mid 60s to 70 degrees F - 18 to 21 C) and plan on going to a
hamfest on Saturday.  His coworkers and our friends have reacted well
so far - there've been a few of them that were visibly weirded out but
they took their cue from Howard and relaxed after a while.  Most
people seem surprised by how good he looks.   You'd think an
amputation would take more of a toll than it has on him.
Thank you for the kind words, prayers and good wishes.

Take care,
Carmen