@Sandy @hilary1617
Well, not
great progress. Stitches came out. Steristrips went on. In 24 hours, itching, inflammation, swelling due to adhesive allergies.
So...off came the strips. A little antibiotic. Fresh air. But I kept hitting it with the right leg. And serous fluid leaking increased. And it bled a little. And the skin is INCREDIBLY thin. Like wet tissue paper.
So...cleaned the area again. Topical antibiotics AND oral antihistamine and my Rx topical corticosteroid (nearby), for my hypersensitive skin. Put steristrips at the two biggest open areas. Then a surgical pad and then that stretchy white tubular stuff they use to keep IVs from getting hit and for awkward areas wound dressing. This stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/MediChoice-Tubular-Bandage-Polyester-1314NB5504/dp/B01JZYNJ22
So far, so good, but...now it's time for a shower. AARGH.
Meanwhile, MiniSue suggest that I might benefit from this stuff, as she once had really good results with surgical wound protection/healing by using it:
https://www.shopwoundcare.com/p-med...MIgaDM2ICq1gIVk4JpCh1YOg5VEAQYASABEgLI2fD_BwE
I think I'll just stay loaded.
And meanwhile...my guilt. My sister could use some support and I'm not available. My BIL stayed UNhospitalized for ALMOST four weeks. Back in...bowel obstruction this time. He's upset that he's (finally) been compliant, for ALMOST four weeks and is out of touch with the fact tbat had he
subjected himself to medical care when serious symptoms started showing up 18 years ago--instead of waiting 13-14 years until he could no longer walk enough to golf and he was thrown off a Mediterranean cruise because the ship's doctor declared him no longer "seaworthy"--he might be in a little better shape right now. (And even after SEVERAL vascular surgeries he kept sneaking out for a smoke...until this year.) And NOW he wants to be all better after ALMOST four weeks of compliance. Duh.)
[Another long Sue parable...] Background...my smart-assness is genetic, both sides of the family. This is from my father's side. Large Italian immigrant family, four girls, four surviving boys. Uncle Joe, the oldest boy, by the time of this incident, a widower, and a retired Fire Captain. He became more frail, he'd fall, crawl to a phone and dial 911. Paramedics knew him and took him to the hospital and called the NEXT oldest brother. Joe would get treated and released to a Skilled Nursing Facility, which he hated, and the three other brothers would show up and Joe would scream at them that he just wanted to go home,and they'd check him out.
This went on for a couple of years. He kept falling, paramedics took him to the hospital, hospital sent him to a SNF, he yelled at brothers (big bro is king...think
The Godfather) and they'd take him home. Until second brother got sick and my father was next in line for the calls and yelling.
Same routine, Joe insisting that he wanted to die at home. My father asked, "So why do you keep dialing 911? If you want to die at home, put the damned phone where you can't reach it from the floor. I guarantee you'll die at home."
Joe died shortly thereafter...I don't know if it was at home, in a SNF or a hospital.
All of this in order to say, figure out how the hell you want to live and HOW you want to die...there are good books and TED talks on the topic. Getting old and dying is CONFUSING. Do you want to go in and out of hospitals as various strangers fix each broken
part of you? Or do you want a familiar bed and good drugs? Important things. Even my BIL has tbe right to say, "Screw this...give me my golf clubs and a cigarette and let me die where I'm happiest."
The end...go in peace.
