Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Year Post

Karen's doing well. A Happy New Year to all for 2008. We hope everyone had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas holiday.

I have not posted in a while and it's time for an update; Karen's incision opened as I mentioned in a previous post, just about an inch or 1.5 inches, not bad for an 8" incision.

Chemo cannot start until the wound is closed. We are being visited every two days by a nurse and Karen is wearing a VAC or Vacuum Assisted Closure device. Essentially a pump about the size of 3 VHS tapes side-by-side. It is attached to the opening by a long line of tubing. The pump maintains a negative pressure on the wound by sucking every few mins. That stimulates blood flow and so on. It seems to be working despite the incredible inconvenience.

We got a short-notice appt tomorrow with Dr Moriarty to discuss who know what. There's not much he can say until the next round of scans and they have not been scheduled just yet. Another couple of weeks and we'll have a plan to move forward.

The waiting is not easy but we continue to receive strong support from all around us.

6 comments:

Suzi Winspear said...

Thoughts and love coming your way

Anonymous said...

Best wishes for the New Year!

You are all in our thoughts always.

Anonymous said...

Great to read that Karen's doing well. Lots of Best wishes for the New Year!!

Anonymous said...

Interesting people have scars…
Artsy Tattoos are little more than an expression of scar envy ….
Sounds like Karen’s scar is going to be especially cool…

Hold Fast & Heal Well

Don MacLeod

Anonymous said...

A new year and I know it will be a good one for the Shanahan family... Keep the spirits up.

Anonymous said...

A new year and I know it will be a good one for the Shanahan family... Keep the spirits up.