Stitches Still In

Hi everyone...

Well, yesterday we were supposed to see the stitches removed but, alas, they are still in. We arrived for our appointment 10 minutes early, at 3:20pm, and didn't leave there until after 6:00pm with only a couple of needle holes to show for it. A little disappointing and frustrating but we know the Lord has His reasons even for this.

The situation is that Michelle has continued to have a swelling below the incision and just to the left of it; the one off the left edge continues to be somewhat sizable (about 1.5 inches out, about 2 inches across). As Dr. DeHaan looked at it he determined it was some kind of fluid build up and thought we should take a shot at draining it off. Unfortunately, using Ultrasound and a good sized needle, he was unable to aspirate anything because they are actually hematomas (accumulation of blood that has clotted some) and not just fluid build up. The accumulation of blood was just too thick in consistency to suck out with a needle. So, the stitches are staying in an extra week due to the tension on the skin these two areas are causing. He is not concerned about this, and neither are we, at this time. We will just wait it out to see if the body will just reabsorb what is there, which is the most likely thing to occur. So, as with the appointment, it's "hurry up to wait."

Apart from the obvious, Michelle is doing well, as are the rest of us! She continues to get stronger and stronger, though she is pretty wiped-out by the end of the day. Continue to pray for her complete healing, that the hematomas will be reabsorbed back into her body, and that the soreness she gets in her neck and back by days end will diminish... oh, and continue to pray NO CHEMO! We love each and every one of you... Steve