First Follow Up Doc Visit

Hello again to our handful of faithful blog readers! Yesterday was Terrie's first follow up visit with her surgeon since we came home. It had been exactly 4 weeks and one day since her surgery. In short, she appears to be right on schedule with her recovery. We spent about an hour total with Dr. Savcenko (pron: "Sav" as in "have" and then "chenko") and his nurse, Debbie. She came in first and answered all our questions and explained in great detail why Terrie's leg is healing at the rate it is and what to expect in the recuperation process. Dr. Savcenko added more explanation, principally reviewing the surgery itself and why he did the things the did during it. One of the significant things that has made Terrie's leg so sore is that they actually did more digging than usual with the scope to extract veins from her right leg. Part of what they pulled out was unusable, so they went further. At 4 weeks from the surgery, they say she is just under half way to the front end of her healing time (9wks), but it could take as long as 12 weeks to really be back to normal. The good news is that she is doing everything right for her recovery. Terrie is an excellent patient and follows the doc's orders to the letter. It definitely has helped. She is off all pain meds - and actually was using nothing more than Advil or ES Tylenol. She likely will not even take those now. She walks 3 times a day for at least 30 minutes each and keeps her leg propped up very high when she is lying down. She astounded the nurse when she entered the doc's office yesterday because they thought she looked so good - see the pic in this blog with our granddaughter, Keeley. That was just after we returned from the doc visit. God has certainly watched over Terrie from way before we discovered the need for surgery. And He has watched over us during the whole process, due in no small part to all your constant & earnest prayers for her. Thank you again for your intercession for my dear Terrie! And thanks again to all the wonderful cooks who set an excellent banquet table for our family day after day! What a blessing you all have been! Who knows when I'll write more? We'll see!