Wednesday, Dec. 14, 9:30 am
Headed to the cosmetic surgeon to hopefully remove drain tubes. They are a lot to take care of. Receptacle at the end of the tube must be emptied 4 times a day with records kept of output. The tube then must be evacuated by pinching it where it exits the skin and sliding down the full length of the tube, applying pressure the whole way to the receptacle. They call it “milking.” That empties the clear plastic tube of any clots that would stop the drainage. I tell you this because many people have asked about the process. The main problem is what to do with the tube paraphernalia during the day while you’re up. Betty bought a camisole that actually has pockets inside to hold the receptacles. It works really well. Camisole. I’ve never written that word before now and only used twice in a sentence. Betty has taught me a lot of new words these past 38 years. Duvet. That’s one she taught me a few years back. I’m still not sure what it refers to. She says we have one on our bed. All I see is a bed spread. Also on our bed, we have a “pillow cluster.” It’s like a flock of geese crashed in our bedroom headed south for the winter and someone stuffed them in some paisley sacks! At last count, I think we had 27 pillows on our “Duvet!” It takes me about 10 minutes to get into bed at night. We take our sleeping pillows out of a “sham” and then try to find a place for the other pillows on the floor. It looks like a Sultan’s palace by the time we get through. We’re so tired from the pillow relocation that we sleep quite well. And, we never stub our toes going to the bathroom at night because there’s always a pillow to soften the blow. Sorry for the wild “goose” chase. It happens a lot lately.
2:00 pm, Cosmetic Surgeon’s office:
Cosmetic surgeon says we’ll probably not have more surgery. Chemo and radiation treatment are the next stage. Good news, we got our tubes out! The doctor prepares Betty for the inevitable. She will loose her hair. She has already lost so much. I watch her eyes. Hers are fine, mine are misty. That also happens a lot lately. She looks at me and asks, “Can I have a wig?” My response: “Can you have a wig? Are you kidding me? You can have all the wigs you want. I’ll snatch people bald for you! Baby, I’ll get you a membership to the Hair Club for Men! I’ll skin a Sasquatch with a dull knife for you! (I’ve had experience with a knife lately!) You bet you can have a wig!” Finally, something I can do!
3:15 pm, Wig Store:
Didn’t know there were so many types of wigs. Shapes, styles, colors. Colors, humm. Haven’t gone out with a blonde in quite a while. I’m looking closely at the blonde “Cheerleader” model #1,2,3, when the sales lady ask Betty what color she would prefer. Betty said it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t blonde. So…. we got a brunette “Wife” model #98,99,100. It’s my favorite color, or so I’m told. Go Brunettes! Give me a B…give me an R…give me a U….... well, you get it.
We’re still a little down about the discovery of more cancer cells in the lymph nodes, but very up about what God has done for our spirits through your prayers. It’s like having a cash cushion in the bank. Betty does that with our account. She keeps a little extra money that is not on record just in case things get close. When they do, we can rest a little easy cause there’s that cushion. Your prayers have done that for us. Things are really close right now, but not to worry, there’s a cushion out there that causes us to rest. Thank you for being our cushion. We are resting. We know that He hears us when we pray, and you evidently have His ear. Please continue to lift Betty up to the Lord. Tell others about the blog so they can follow our course. Many have gone down this road. This is just our first time. It’s all new to us. Thank you for letting me share it with you. By the way, Betty really looks great in her new wig!