Not only did we have to wait almost 2 hours before we were seen, she has to go back next week to get the other bandage (the skin graft on her leg) redressed. Needless to say, as all things in my life – seeing what the doctors had cut away was quite the story…
Imagine if you will a hockey puck. A little larger than the palm of your hand and perfectly round, or, as I like to refer to it – the size and thickness of a Mae West. Now take that hockey puck (or Mae West) and place it just below your shoulder blade. Imagine that this thing has burnt a hole in your skin a few layers deep, or think of a cookie cutter making its way through a mound of dough, leaving only a deep outline of what used to be there.
Well, that was my mom’s back!
It was quite the sight. I thought I was going to faint! And this is coming from someone who has witnessed brain and spinal surgeries. I think what made the difference was the fact that it was my mom – somebody I knew. It was hard to objectify the wound as an entity on its own when the voice I have known since birth is on the other side of this gaping hole.
So standing behind my mom and the surgeon, we saw the remainder of the bandages peel away. B was standing next to me; I was surprised that she didn’t faint, and she was quite surprised at herself as well. Fascinated and revolted at the same time, like curious monkeys, we leaned in closer to look at this strange moon shaped crater.
Hpk – you should have brought your camera! And I did forget, but the opportunity was not lost. Betty dug around in her purse and pulled out her telephone.
“Ah ha! We’ll take pictures with this!”
She leaned closer to the wound, lifted up the device and pressed a button.
SHLINK!
I was sure that sound could be heard down the hallway and into the next ward!
The surgeon, as professional as he was, let us indulge in our fascination and snap away a few more from different angles and various states of wound re-dressing.
The whole experience was surreal – there was my mother on an examination table, bare back facing us, talking about how her hump, lovely lady hump made for complicated bath rituals, and this huge gaping circle looking back at us. And it was deep.
At least ½ inch, if not more and perfectly round. My curiosity overrode my shock as I leaned in for one more shot.
The wound is healing nicely, no infection.
And in that moment, I realized how amazing the human body really is – able to regenerate itself, able to have tissue from one area taken off and replace another spot that is lacking an epidermis. How this wound, this HUGE wound was able to seal itself off at the edges of the incisions so that surrounding sink would be exposed, how there seemed to be a protective barrier between the muscles and network of veins and nerves just below the surface of the graft. It’s incredible – the body’s design to be able to continue functioning even when part of it has been removed. Taking a quote from Deepak Chopra who talks about the intricate nature of the body machine - millions of years of evolution can’t be wrong!
She will be going back on Tuesday to have the wound re-dressed once again, and have the protective layer on the graft (on her thigh) removed. This square that covers the wound looks like a thin sheet of warn, weathered rawhide. I can’t wait to see what lies underneath – because at this moment, as she lay sleeping, billions of cells are working around the clock to heal and rebuild that one spot.
It’s like Christmas all over again!!
we had a good time after though – we poked fun at her new storage compartment.
It looks like a speaker – a car speaker to be exact, the ones that already come preinstalled with the car…
This would be a good place to store a sip sack, or a little Ziplocs filled with Gatorade, and we can attach a bendy straw that will go from the pouch on your back, you’re your shoulder and into your mouth. Hands free drinking!
When you travel to foreign countries, you won’t need a money belt; you can just stash
your extra cash and passport into the hole in your back! Nobody would ever think to look
there!
The CIA can stick a little surveillance device there, and use one of your moles as the hole
for the camera to see through. But you’d have to be wearing backless dresses a lot. Not
very practical in the winter though…
If you keep on losing your car keys…
It can be fitted with a remote sensor so that you can open doors just by pressing on it –
like those round discs with the handicap symbol on them which you see near entrances
and exits.
It was good to have a laugh about that. And laugh we did. Hearty, gut wrenching giggles and chuckles. I really think the healing process begins and can be accelerated with a little humor…
(why is blogger acting so stupid and reformatting my text?)
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