Today I got a call from the surgical coordinator, Ellen. She's the same one as the last surgery but I saw the other one yesterday. They changed my date to May 21st but still at the hospital. Bad thing is that it's scheduled for 3:30pm! Sheesh! She told me that they added the 2 slots for that Friday because Dr. T is just that booked up due to his vacation and if I don't do it then, the next available date is June 30th. I've already decided that a date that late in June is not going to work with MY vacation! She is sending me all the info, another pre-op form and prescriptions. I mentioned to her that the Darvocet they gave me last time did nothing for the pain so she says they'll send a script for something else. That should be interesting... Anyway, the information has been sent to my insurance for approval. As before, she feels this wont be a problem. I hope not! I get nervous over this part but I have my fingers crossed.
I'll be back when I hear from my insurance~
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
18 weeks, the third beginning
Hello~
Sorry I didn't update last night. Too many work issues while I was out for the afternoon!
I had my appointment with Dr. T. He's happy with the results of the previous surgery so we talked about the next one. Yeah...! He's going to fix a few little "dots" on my right upper lid which should be easy. Then, he's going to fix the left upper with a skin graft from the other side of the lid. After that, he's going to get that little piece on the lower left up by the tear duct. He feels I have enough skin to do that now. He's not going to do anything with the right lower at this time because there is no extra skin over there. That was the one that he only removed the lower third of the reborn xanthie. The upper 2/3's is still there and noticeable to me but fooling around with it could cause my eye not to close because the lesion is still large. Okay. We'll leave that one alone for now.
My surgery is tentatively scheduled for May 19th at a hospital near here. He's pretty much booked at the surgery center until the end of June. I opted for the earlier date because I go away in July and I think 3 weeks was cutting it very close last time. I dont want it that close again. I did ask them to watch for cancellations at the surgery center for dates prior to June 14th. We'll see how that goes.
Anyway, we still have to get authorization from my insurance. The surgery lady told me they had another patient having xanthies removed but her insurance wouldn't cover it. I mentioned what my PCP had told me about mine being covered because they are caused by the metabolic disorder (genetically high cholesterol) and she agreed that could by why my insurance has paid. This other woman does not have cholesterol.
On another note, my daughter Samantha went with me for the appointment. I reminded her how much I missed her for the last surgery and told her I hoped that she could be here for this one. She says she will. (Yea!!!!)
I'll be back as soon as I hear from my insurance. As before, I will not be getting the pre-op stuff done until they approve it. If the surgery center opens up, I wont have to get pre-op done, as the one from December is still good through June. If I do have it at the hospital, I'll have to get it done. blah~
Here is a photo for today. Much better than a year ago!
Talk to you soon!
Sorry I didn't update last night. Too many work issues while I was out for the afternoon!
I had my appointment with Dr. T. He's happy with the results of the previous surgery so we talked about the next one. Yeah...! He's going to fix a few little "dots" on my right upper lid which should be easy. Then, he's going to fix the left upper with a skin graft from the other side of the lid. After that, he's going to get that little piece on the lower left up by the tear duct. He feels I have enough skin to do that now. He's not going to do anything with the right lower at this time because there is no extra skin over there. That was the one that he only removed the lower third of the reborn xanthie. The upper 2/3's is still there and noticeable to me but fooling around with it could cause my eye not to close because the lesion is still large. Okay. We'll leave that one alone for now.
My surgery is tentatively scheduled for May 19th at a hospital near here. He's pretty much booked at the surgery center until the end of June. I opted for the earlier date because I go away in July and I think 3 weeks was cutting it very close last time. I dont want it that close again. I did ask them to watch for cancellations at the surgery center for dates prior to June 14th. We'll see how that goes.
Anyway, we still have to get authorization from my insurance. The surgery lady told me they had another patient having xanthies removed but her insurance wouldn't cover it. I mentioned what my PCP had told me about mine being covered because they are caused by the metabolic disorder (genetically high cholesterol) and she agreed that could by why my insurance has paid. This other woman does not have cholesterol.
On another note, my daughter Samantha went with me for the appointment. I reminded her how much I missed her for the last surgery and told her I hoped that she could be here for this one. She says she will. (Yea!!!!)
I'll be back as soon as I hear from my insurance. As before, I will not be getting the pre-op stuff done until they approve it. If the surgery center opens up, I wont have to get pre-op done, as the one from December is still good through June. If I do have it at the hospital, I'll have to get it done. blah~
Here is a photo for today. Much better than a year ago!
Talk to you soon!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
S2 16 weeks post op
I finally got around to making my 11 week follow up appointment. Its scheduled for 12days from now putting me at 18 weeks post op.... just a little late. ;)
I probably wont update between now and then but I may come on the day before to post a photo. I will definitely be on the day of the appointment to update on what we're going to do next. See ya around the 27th!
I probably wont update between now and then but I may come on the day before to post a photo. I will definitely be on the day of the appointment to update on what we're going to do next. See ya around the 27th!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
S2 15 weeks +4 days
I promised I'd be back and here I am!
I spent the last hour taking photos and comparing to previous photos. Interesting... I have to say my eyes definitely look much better than they did back in May of last year. After 2 surgeries they should, right?? LOL, yeah, they do. Are the xanthies totally gone? No. And I have to say I didn't expect them to be. If you remember, Dr. T said we'd be removing what was left in pieces but he wanted to try and stop the process first. It appears that they are not getting any worse, which is good and there is less xanthie than there was in December.
So, let me backtrack a little. Since my last update, everything has been fine, for the most part, which is why I didn't update. Not much had changed. Then, about 3 weeks ago 2 little bumps showed up. One on each incision. The one on the left eye was larger and looked like a pimple. The one on the right incision looked yellow. My first thought was that it was xanthie but it didn't look quite like xanthie. A few days passed and I continued to watch these new bumps. I think you know what's coming next. I simply cannot just leave things alone! The left bump was getting bigger so I decided to pinch it a bit to see what would happen. Believe it or not, it popped, just like a pimple. I know, gross right? Yeah, I agree. What came out of it also had little tiny bits of stitch! Now that part did surprise me but then my senses took over and I realized that maybe some tiny pieces of stitch hadn't dissolved and my body had surrounded it with white blood cells to escort it out through the scar. I'm guessing my skin was a bit too thick, thus this pimple looking thing. Once I pinched everything out of it, it healed and there is no indication that anything was ever there. Then I turned to the right one. It looked different but in my mind, I thought it could be the same thing. It took 2 days to get that one out but I did, and after examining it under my gem microscope, it was definitely the same with tiny tiny bits of stitch material. 2 days after that, both were gone and everything is back to normal! Both incisions are totally smooth now, no bumps on or underneath. I'm thinking that all the internal stitches are finally gone.
That brings me up to today. I will be calling Dr. T's office tomorrow for my next appointment. I already have planned what I want done next. Xanthie has returned on the left upper lid as I have mentioned before. I want that fixed. The right upper is fine, maybe a little discolored but no real reincarnation of xanthie. On the lowers, I'm almost willing to leave the left lower alone for now. There is still that piece at the top near the corner of my eye that I would like to remove eventually but it's kind of okay for the moment. I think it may be better to let more skin grow on that one before cutting it again. As for the right lower, Dr. T. didn't remove a lot. He took off the lower third, which was good but most of the rest is still there. I have to say at this point it doesn't appear to be getting any bigger but since he didn't remove too much, there may be enough skin to get some more off. I'll present all of this to him and see what he says. Remember, the big issue is to not take off so much skin that the eyelids lose function. You cannot pull skin up to fill in the gaps because gravity takes over and pulls it right back down.
By the way, I don't know if you remember my quest to lose weight from back in December. Well, as of today, I have lost 18 pounds since Thanksgiving. My daughter Samantha and I have been working together to drop some pounds and get into better shape. I think it's working. We both need to commit to it a little more as we have both fallen off in the past few weeks but I hope to get back into it soon.
Anyway, that's my update for now. I will post again for my appointment which I hope will be within the next week. Here is a photo taken today. Not bad. Compare it to previous photos and let me know what you guys think!
See ya soon~
I spent the last hour taking photos and comparing to previous photos. Interesting... I have to say my eyes definitely look much better than they did back in May of last year. After 2 surgeries they should, right?? LOL, yeah, they do. Are the xanthies totally gone? No. And I have to say I didn't expect them to be. If you remember, Dr. T said we'd be removing what was left in pieces but he wanted to try and stop the process first. It appears that they are not getting any worse, which is good and there is less xanthie than there was in December.
So, let me backtrack a little. Since my last update, everything has been fine, for the most part, which is why I didn't update. Not much had changed. Then, about 3 weeks ago 2 little bumps showed up. One on each incision. The one on the left eye was larger and looked like a pimple. The one on the right incision looked yellow. My first thought was that it was xanthie but it didn't look quite like xanthie. A few days passed and I continued to watch these new bumps. I think you know what's coming next. I simply cannot just leave things alone! The left bump was getting bigger so I decided to pinch it a bit to see what would happen. Believe it or not, it popped, just like a pimple. I know, gross right? Yeah, I agree. What came out of it also had little tiny bits of stitch! Now that part did surprise me but then my senses took over and I realized that maybe some tiny pieces of stitch hadn't dissolved and my body had surrounded it with white blood cells to escort it out through the scar. I'm guessing my skin was a bit too thick, thus this pimple looking thing. Once I pinched everything out of it, it healed and there is no indication that anything was ever there. Then I turned to the right one. It looked different but in my mind, I thought it could be the same thing. It took 2 days to get that one out but I did, and after examining it under my gem microscope, it was definitely the same with tiny tiny bits of stitch material. 2 days after that, both were gone and everything is back to normal! Both incisions are totally smooth now, no bumps on or underneath. I'm thinking that all the internal stitches are finally gone.
That brings me up to today. I will be calling Dr. T's office tomorrow for my next appointment. I already have planned what I want done next. Xanthie has returned on the left upper lid as I have mentioned before. I want that fixed. The right upper is fine, maybe a little discolored but no real reincarnation of xanthie. On the lowers, I'm almost willing to leave the left lower alone for now. There is still that piece at the top near the corner of my eye that I would like to remove eventually but it's kind of okay for the moment. I think it may be better to let more skin grow on that one before cutting it again. As for the right lower, Dr. T. didn't remove a lot. He took off the lower third, which was good but most of the rest is still there. I have to say at this point it doesn't appear to be getting any bigger but since he didn't remove too much, there may be enough skin to get some more off. I'll present all of this to him and see what he says. Remember, the big issue is to not take off so much skin that the eyelids lose function. You cannot pull skin up to fill in the gaps because gravity takes over and pulls it right back down.
By the way, I don't know if you remember my quest to lose weight from back in December. Well, as of today, I have lost 18 pounds since Thanksgiving. My daughter Samantha and I have been working together to drop some pounds and get into better shape. I think it's working. We both need to commit to it a little more as we have both fallen off in the past few weeks but I hope to get back into it soon.
Anyway, that's my update for now. I will post again for my appointment which I hope will be within the next week. Here is a photo taken today. Not bad. Compare it to previous photos and let me know what you guys think!
See ya soon~
Saturday, April 10, 2010
S2 15 weeks +3 days
Hi everyone!!!
I'm still here! I got the postcard reminder to make my appointment with Dr. T a few days ago so I guess it's time to get in gear again. I plan on calling them this week and hope to have an appointment within another week.
I do have an update for you guys but I dont have the photos. My camera battery is totally dead. It's late at night (11:20pm)and since it will take an hour or so for it to charge, I'll just wait till tomorrow. Sorry!
Everything is good and I promise to be back in the morning with an update and photos!
I'd also like to say thanks to the people that have been reading and following my story for the past 11 months. I appreciate the comments and I wish all of my fellow xanthie buddies the best of luck!
I'm still here! I got the postcard reminder to make my appointment with Dr. T a few days ago so I guess it's time to get in gear again. I plan on calling them this week and hope to have an appointment within another week.
I do have an update for you guys but I dont have the photos. My camera battery is totally dead. It's late at night (11:20pm)and since it will take an hour or so for it to charge, I'll just wait till tomorrow. Sorry!
Everything is good and I promise to be back in the morning with an update and photos!
I'd also like to say thanks to the people that have been reading and following my story for the past 11 months. I appreciate the comments and I wish all of my fellow xanthie buddies the best of luck!
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