We were lucky enough to attend the 100th birthday party of Charles beloved great aunt Ethel. Covid protocols were followed and it was so nice to socialize with family members and the guest of honor. I broke my sugar rule by eating 3/4’s of a homemade chocolate coconut cake that was divine, yeast be damned the ganache was worth it. We had to leave a bit early due to a new issue in my bum and an appointment with a wound ostomy nurse but I am grateful that we got to socialize as much as we did! I got home just in time to drop my pants and get on my massage table in preparation for my appointment (home health comes to me.) I had developed an abscess but over the last 2 weeks it has been pushing out of my skin, forming what Charles described as a water blister like formation which he had been trying to squeeze but without much success. Wound/Ostomy nurses are like the Navy Seal version of nurses, they are way more knowledgeable on how to deal with wound healing than any other western medical professionals hands down, that is no joke, my surgeon is great with surgery but I don’t trust him with the actual long term healing of the site he operated on in the way I trust the specialists that are these nurses, I just don’t, these people are up to their eyeballs in the really gnarly aftermath of what needs to happen after surgical procedures or pressure wounds, really complicated cases sometimes and they have my utmost respect and gratitude.
Katie, my nurse today, assessed my situation and asked if I would be okay with her trying to squeeze the abscess to try and get out the ooze “Yes!” I exclaimed “Squeeze that fucker!” She told me to stop her if it hurt. The relief in having what she described as a grape size amount of white pustulant like goo pushed out of my body was felt by me and it wasn’t painful, it felt like she was scratching a deep itch as she worked it out. I told her that I have been taking apple cider vinegar baths and asked if she thought that might have helped in drawing out the abscess and she didn’t poo poo this at all, she agreed that it could be possible (I was doing the baths for yeast.) Apple cider vinegar is pretty magical and I am going to continue doing them even after I get the yeast resolved, it can’t hurt.
I am still taking the trial drugs and so far I have no side effects. I haven’t had a fever in over 8 days and I am feeling pretty good! My energy is better, though not 100% it is still improving and I feel so optimistic. I saw my oncologist last Friday and she was super happy to see that I am doing so well and that the trial drug seems to be really working for me. We basically spent the whole appointment talking about what good news this is, a welcome kind of appointment after months of not so great ones. Though I am not cocky nor out of the woods yet, it is amazing to feel the way that I do right now, after months of seemingly treading water I feel like I have finally landed on a sunny beach for once…Jeez, (random thought) Hawaii would be nice, maybe when the locals are actually okay with people visiting and I am up for the travel…I long to lay on a tropical beach again, hopefully this will happen for me someday in the future.
Until next time ❤️
Last night with Ruby Sue pretending like she doesn’t weigh 65lbs and that it is okay to lay completely on top of me...She is so cute I can’t get mad.