Are you ready?

Just a quick note to bring you up to speed on my little surgery to remove the Vascular Access Port (VAP) in my chest. The deed was done yesterday at 11:30 AM. I wasn't sure what to expect, except that having done my share of surgery, I was convinced it would be less involved than the placement surgery. I was right!

There was no "operating room" in  the usual sense. The room was more like an examination room with a reclining chair. Dr. Dozier draped my chest and scrubbed it with disinfectant. He numbed the area with some lidocaine. According to his notes: 

"An incision was then made. A subcutaneous pocket containing the port was entered. The port was removed from the pocket. The subcutaneous tissue and skin were closed with 3-0 and 4-0 Biosyn."

For the uninitiated, Biosyn is suture material that gradually dissolves, so there is no need for a post-op visit. For the curious, the 3-0 and 4-0 refer to the diameter of the sutures. The bigger the number, the smaller the diameter. Generally, heavier sutures are used to close subcutaneous tissue, and lighter sutures to close the skin, in order to minimize scarring. 

The whole procedure took about 30 minutes and was virtually painless. There is a little tenderness at the incision, as expected, but it's no worse than the discomfort from the dehiscence (the bursting open of a surgically closed wound) that precipitated the removal of the VAP.  

There now you've had your surgery lesson for the day. Any questions? Your next patient is in the waiting room.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. Jill has survived 21 years with me. Our marriage is old enough to drink!! In many ways, it seems like only a couple of years since our wedding day, and in other ways it seems as if we have always been us. This, I believe, is what is referred to in the fairy tales as "wedded bliss." Only, in our case, it isn't a fairy tale at all. It's just, well...wedded bliss. How I love that girl! A year ago today, I finished my induction chemotherapy at Club Sunnyside. Jill picked up German food at Gustav's, which is across the street from the hospital campus. She also picked up Bundt cakes from "Nothing Bundt Cake;" a little one for us and a big one for the oncology staff. It was as fine a celebration as we could muster under the circumstances, and one we will never forget.  Today we had a morning clinic visit. This time for Jill's blood pressure, which with the help of a new medication added to her regimen, is perfect, thank you...
Read more

A Dream Come True

Image
BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 11 13-17 ^ Platelets 89 140-375 v ANC 2810 1800-8300 ^ When I was a youngster, probably about 10 years old, my dad introduced me to model making. Mainly we built models from kits, but Dad also taught me how to make a stick and paper airplane from scratch. It actually flew, with the help of a rubber band motor. But one of my favorite plastic model kits was an MG-TD sports car. You may remember this car from your youth (if you are old, like me) or from old movies, or maybe from a car show. It was a little, English two-seater with long sweeping front fenders and a vertical grille. The windshield (well, windscreen, if you are Brit...
Read more

Don' be that guy!

Remember the Mighty Casey? In Ernest Lawrence Thayer's famous poem "Casey at the Bat," he was the pride of the Mudville baseball team. We join the story in the 9th inning:  The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play, And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game. The crowd was in despair. Down two in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, they were beginning to leave the stadium. The next two batters were the bottom of the order and offered little hope, but Flynn hit a single, and Blake a double. Suddenly, there was hope for the Mudville nine, for the top of the order, none other than the mighty Casey, was coming to bat with two men in scoring position. Even a base hit would keep the game alive, and a home run, well that would end it in a glorious, ecstatic victory.  Now Casey, apparently, had embraced the hype about hi...
Read more