Next step

They did it again, but this time it was longer. We were scheduled to see Dr. Brand on a day when he was in surgery all day, which is no good for him or for us. We waited 2 hours and 40 minutes before we saw him. The travel Scrabble was a huge help, but as soon as the front desk woman started giving us attitude (I was asking for the third time in 2 hours what the doctor's ETA was) I began to feel pretty stir-crazy. Amazing how that works: I was actually okay with waiting for hours but when I was treated without compassion, my outlook dimmed. All told, we were in the hospital complex from 10:45 - 3:10, only 15 minutes of which were spent with Dr. Brand. Better than in most parts of the world, I'm sure, but an unpleasant experience for someone used to living in this part of it. And but so the bandages have been changed and my ass wound is doing great and my wife tells me the scar, while long, is actually very narrow and clean. I haven't gotten to see it yet, but will have her take a photo tomorrow morning when we change the bandage. Right: I have to let the hole where the tube was scab over before I can get it wet, so I can't shower yet. That was not happy news. I'm now hoping that by Wednesday I can once again step under the shower. That'll be a great feeling.

Dr. Brand seemed genuinely pleased with the progress of the wound's healing and he took me off the antibiotics. From now on, I just have some gauze stuffed in my crack with a little tape and now the ace bandage provides the primary pressure keeping the cheeks together. Have I mentioned how weird this makes pooping?

The ride home was not great, but I actually sat at my desk for an hour or so this early evening and that was a good feeling. I'm back on the pull out couch now, but I have hopes that I'll be able to start working tomorrow for more than a little bit. Earlier I actually did some work on my syllabus and my theatre company's files, and that was nice. Some amazing people have auditioned for us over the years.

So yes. Feeling very upbeat after getting out of the doctor's office and the positive assessment by Dr. Brand, who really needs to work less. When I explained to my wife that one of the drawbacks of working with a surgeon as in demand as Dr. Brand was that we had to wait to see him, she said, "Well if he's so great, why's he working like a chump?" I hadn't heard "chump" used seriously in ages and found that hilarious. Well, we both recognize he likely works this way because he loves it and is well compensated for it. We didn't succeed in getting the last follow up appointment made due to the front desk lady (don't even ask) and that makes me nervous, but hopefully in a little over a week I will be able to stop wearing the gauze and ace bandage. What I realized today, though, was that not much is going on healing wise. There's a scar and the tissue is trying to reform to the tailbone, but that's pretty much it. If we continue to take good care of me. But yeah, it was nice to realize that the only bandage I really have is some gauze back there to soak up any bleeding, and after today, that seems unlikely so long as I'm not careless. We'll see, but I feel a lot better.