Last Surgery. Hopefully

Today Dr. Higgins the plastic surgeon closed my incision. All week I was under the impression that surgery would be at 8am, which was confirmed by my nurse first thing this morning while having blood drawn and my vitals checked at 5:30am. So it was a little frustrating to nod off and wake up at 8am and find myself still in my room. They didn't take me down to the OR until about 10:30 and surgery wasn't until close to noon. My poor parents arrived at 7:30am as planned and had quite a bit of waiting to do again today. I was out of recovery and back in my room before 4pm. Dr. Higgins said that all went well and if everything heals according to plan then I could be discharged by Tuesday! That would be great since I was thinking it may be Thursday or Friday before I could go home. I'm cautiously optimistic.

A development that I totally forgot to include in my last update occurred a few days ago on the Worker's Compensation front. I have mentioned in previous posts the adjuster (for the third party) who has been incredibly difficult to deal with. She has been nasty to the church's treasurer, a trustee, Dr. Ove's assistant Pam, Dr. Brumback's assistant Marge, the orthodics department in Annapolis, the social workers here at Union Memorial and directly to me on several occasions. She was unhelpful, uncooperative and a big part of the delay in getting a second opinion and my surgery scheduled. Cheryl my social worker called to give an update to the adjuster the other day she was pleasantly surprised to be told that I had a new adjuster. Hallelujah!! What's more, they have hired a Nurse Case Manager to be directly involved in my recovery and to make sure that I am getting adequate treatment. I was practically speechless when Sandy, my nurse case manager, called to introduce herself the other day, gave me her cell phone number and said that she would be by soon for a visit. Yesterday I got to meet her in person. She came by with some paperwork for me, took a very thorough interview of the history of my injury and treatment and reiterated that if there was anything that I needed or any questions I had about my treatment plan that she was who I should call. She'll also be visiting the house as soon as I'm home and helping to coordinate the IV antibiotics that I'll be getting for the next month or so. She's really nice and I am thrilled to have this new ally in dealing with my recovery process.