Scary Sound

This morning I heard one of those sounds that you hope never to hear - the sound of your 6 year old daughter falling down the steps. Thankfully she as OK - one scratch and one bruise. It was mostly a butt bump but there was a little roll on the bottom steps. She was lying at the bottom of the steps when I made it to her. I think I went 20 feet in about 3 giant leaps. I hear a good sound - her crying - which meant she was at least conscious and probably OK. We checked her out a little and then Ted picked her up and put her on the couch. She cried a little bit and then the first thing out of her mouth was, "Can I watch 'Lion King One and a Half?'" They learn pretty young that the best time to ask Mom and Dad for something you want is right after you get hurt.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I went to the orthopedic doctor last Friday. He examined me and said that the rib lump felt bigger to him, too. We discussed options and really the only option at this point, since all of my radiology tests have been normal, is surgery. The Surgery Center is going to call me later this week to set up a Thoracoplasty and Excision Biopsy - to be done in a couple of weeks. I'm not thrilled about having surgery but I will be sooo happy if it works and I am done with this pain. He went through all of the 'bad' things that are associated with surgery but when we were getting ready to leave he said, "I really think that this is going to fix you. I wouldn't do it if I didn't think that." That made me feel a lot better about it.

He said that for most surgeries they can do a small horizontal incision. In my case he said he wants to make a vertical incision. This is not as good because it will need to be fairly large and cosmetically I probably won't like it. He said he needs to do that so that he can get under the muscle and be able to get to the bone properly. Also, he said if it is malignant, mostly likely there would need to be a follow up surgery and a horizontal incision would hinder the ability to do a later surgery - which would require the vertical incision. He does not think that I have a malignant tumor for a number of reasons (knock on wood) but it's better to be safe. I told him that I could care less about the scar.

He also said he'd need to cut through a fair amount of muscle to get to the bone. He said that muscle is the most painful thing to heal and since it is in my back that will be even more painful since you basically use your back for *everything*. To sum it up: I'm going to be in a lot of pain after the operation. Great.

The good news is that I will go in first thing in the morning and be able to come home the same day. At first he said they'd do the surgery in the OR they have in the basement of their offices. He looked at our faces and said, "Well, maybe it would be better to do it at the hospital." I was like, "definitely!" There's no way I want to be in the basement of a doctor's office if something goes wrong. This is a general anesthesia procedure - I mean I'm having my freaking rib removed! I'll take the OR at the real hospital, thank you very much.

Speaking of having my rib taken out... Get this: He said that most likely my rib will GROW BACK. How whacky is that? I had no idea that your ribs could regenerate! Why can't arms and legs do that???

The last, and only, surgery I've had was a tonsilectomy when I was four years old. I'm a little nervous about having surgery - who wouldn't be nervous? I'm trying not to freak out about it, though. I just keep telling myself how much better I'm going to feel in a couple of months. I can actually imagine having fun this summer!

Comments

[emily]

Wow!I never knew that ribs regrew either!!!!That is wicked!

[geena]

*sigh* It sucks that it came to this, but I really hope it works!