Author Archives: Alan

Day 2: Waiting, getting a PICC line … and more waiting

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Today is a little better than the day before. That’s pretty much the goal with these stays in the hospital. We found that out when we were here in 2012.

Jenny has had more energy today. She even got up and showered. And she got out her computer and did some Christmas shopping.

But she’s also felt worn out and nauseous at other times. They are pumping her with lots of medicine. She’s not taking Hydrocodone, though. She hates that stuff, so they’re giving her Ibuprofin to manage the pain that she still has.

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Surgery No. 7 — Lucky No. 7

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Jenny is back for another surgery. She detailed the plan in a post on Tuesday, where she talks about the continued reconstruction phase of this process.

We know we are near the end — Jenny wants a finish line — but she also knows the cancer that she found in 2012 will always be a part of her life. But she has said out loud that this is the final surgery for awhile:

“I have declared this my last surgery for two years.”

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A worthy response from Jenny’s pre-surgery thoughts

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On the day of Jenny’s sixth surgery – a reconstructive surgery that we believe will be her last — I sent an email update to a group of friends and family. My note said that she was out of surgery.

In the email, I said that I was going to post my notes from the day later, but I shared Jenny’s pre-surgery thoughts in case they had not read that yet. If you remember, the night before the surgery Jenny was writing about having a lot to celebrate, something she was contemplating after meeting so many people that she feels a connection with throughout this journey.

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Surgery No. 6 — she’s come this far

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Jenny and I are in Houston for another surgery. If you missed her pre-surgery post, you can read it here.

This surgery should be the last time they need to open her up. We hope we are done with No. 6. With this surgery, they are swapping out the expander they had in place after the surgery in Feb. They are also doing fat grafting on each side to complete the process and make sure the implants are surrounded by tissue.

We think this is the last surgery, but the doctors say they often will do more fat grafting in months/years to come as everything settles into place. They call it serial grafting. It’s a thing. All that is up to Jenny.

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