Cold Spaghetti

We met with Vicki, our birth provider, for our final appointment on Monday. During the visit, we discussed ‘what happened’ in great detail. The most interesting part of our discussion was revisiting what Dr. Maher found when he opened me up… the extensive scarring (“intra-abdominal adhesions”) throughout my abdomen and mis-placement of organs. According to Vicki, Dr. Maher spoke candidly at length to her about it the day after the delivery, using colorful and pointed language about the horrendous job the surgeons had done.

(Note, this is the part where things get personal.) Immediately after the surgery, I noticed a drastic change in my ability to pee — since Will’s birth, I’d had a very difficult time going to the bathroom… it took time, I rarely felt “empty”, and had to visit the WC much more than before. I chalked up the changes to normal stuff that happens after having a baby. Another change I had post-Will was pain during intercourse. I figured it would take time to “get better” and again, chalked it up to pregnancy and body changes. Now, at 8-weeks post-partum, I can say that that symptom has also gone away. Which makes me believe that both were related to the poor job the surgeons did during my first Cesarean.

If Kate had been born vaginally, I never would have known how the scarring was affecting my quality of life. I would have gone on without complaint. It makes me wonder what else I could be missing.

Another issue that Dr. Maher explained during our 2-week follow-up was that the scarring is so extensive that it actually includes my bowel — now attached in layers of scar tissue to my uterus. This is a bit alarming to me because of my history of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Normally the bowel is able to move and twist in the abdomen… now, mine cannot. Should I have a flare of IBD, how will this impact it? During this visit, he also mentioned that I may need future laproscopic surgery to repair some of the damage. He addressed the areas that needed to be disturbed for the purpose of delivering Kate, but decided not to go further because of the great impact it would have had on my recovery. With a new baby to handle and feed, getting me healed quick seemed the better option (for this, I’m thankful.) But does this means I face further surgery in the future?

Now that we’ve had time to process — and I’ve had time to enjoy the relative ease of using the bathroom and being intimate with my spouse — I’m shocked to think that I would have lived with these impairments for years. And I feel compelled to do something about it; I’m just not sure what.

I’m puzzled as to how an attending allowed my surgery to happen the way that it did. I understand that there is no clear way of performing surgery… it’s not like you can do a random assignment of different surgical styles and then re-open patients years later to see which healed better. So does that mean that what was done on me (basically, very very over-zealous and unnecessary stitching) is what is taught at this facility? If so, then I really need to follow-up; perhaps my experience could provide insight into better practices.

What would you do?

Very serious.
Such blue eyes!
So sleepy…
…and totally zonked! 

1608: City of Quebec founded
1863: Battle of Gettysburg ends
1928: First color TV transmission
1944: Oriole Park burns down in Baltimore
1967: “New at 10” premieres on English TV
1976: Chris Mergerson born

Happy 30th Crisco!

So weeks is abbreviated. Kate is staring at PapPap in this picture. She is fresh from a bath in Granna and PapPap’s bathroom sink! 

PapPap, Granna, Kate and I followed Cap’n Will to Dauphin Island this morning to explore the Dauphin Island Estuarium. Pirate Will had a blast driving the boat through Mobile Bay and into the island harbor, where we unloaded and set out to search for treasure (and fishies).
Will had to confer with many of the local residents for information on where to find the bounty. A moray eel whispered secrets to Will as it gulped in sea water and plankton.
PapPap helped Will read the subtle words being spelled out by the tiny worm fishies, who had to stop from their busy task of chasing shrimp.
To gain the trust of the locals, Will had to show he was bigger than a red snapper. He managed to just eek by at 36 1/2 inches and 34 pounds.
A panicked box turtle swore he knew nothing and swam against the current to get away from Will’s sword.
But the smooth shell turtle was happy to show the way.
Granna and Will visited with a hermit crab for the inside scoop.
Baby Kate held the final clue. She made a big diaper and everyone had to go to the restrooms… right by the gift store.
Finally, Will found treasure in the gift shop! A cool t-shirt and pirate telescope, perfect for searching out further adventures. He needed Granna and PapPap’s help to release the treasure from it’s chest, then happily skipped back to the boat with it in hand.“Arrgh!”

This is why I don’t want to leave New Orleans. The opportunities are much too great!

“It’s an adventure,” said Dr. Nicole Giambrone, an LSU resident in medicine and pediatrics. “How many people can say they were here when the city was rebuilt? How many people can say they helped rebuild the health-system infrastructure? You don’t know what to expect, but you know whatever it is, it’s going to be great.”

Paul put in the third and last part of the built-in shelving unit he’s building in the study. He’d have to take out the top of the door frame to put shelves in higher, so at this point, we’re stopping. (It’s already a good 8-9 feet high.) Maybe we’ll decide to do something similar to what he did over the hall shower sometime in the future. For now, the top will be open.

Getting the shelf up on the second unit was no small job — Paul did it basically by himself with me only helping to hoist it up and then spotting. He had to lift it over the door frame to the ceiling (12 feet up) and then down to the shelves. Because the walls aren’t square (the house is 100 years old…) this took some work to both move them in place and make sure they didn’t come crashing down. Now all the finish work begins… re-inforcing them to hold the heavy weight of books without bowing over time, putting on the trim, and painting, painting, painting. Eventually, we’ll put doors on the bottom and top units. I am very excited about having shelves and finally getting to organize our work materials… we’ve been working in messy spaces for so long! See Paul’s blog for pictures!

Every Friday, from 4:00–6:00 p.m., the Specialty Department at our neighborhood Whole Foods (the one we can see from our front porch) has different flavors of beer available for tasting, with advice on food pairing. TOO COOL!

– While there is always laundry to do, it is not piled up.
– Sheets are cleaned regularly.
– The kitchen junk drawer is organized.
– The refridgerator is regularly purged and the shelves cleaned.
– This week’s meals have included: French herb quinoa with spicy black beans; Lime-splashed tofu with red curry paste, peas, and yellow tomatoes; zucchini and basil lasagna with red pepper sauce
– Treats have included: crunchy “grasshoppers,” Triple C’s, Triple C’s with peanut butter swirl, and cappuccino parfaits
– Dust does not pile on the furniture for long.
– Clothes were purged and pick-ups arranged on freecycle.
– Our closet is organized.
– I still get in 30 minutes of soaps via TiVo.

I am The Domestic Goddess.

How long can this continue before I develop a drinking problem?