Update on My Leg (and a couple pics)

Laura came to my rescue and flew out for a week to take care of me.  Good thing she's a nurse because she had to change my dressing and wrap my leg until I could stomach it myself.  Also, crutches when you're old and fat are just a bad idea.  Especially when it's a mile long walk from the parking lot (the parking garage was closed) to the hospital.  Never did I imagine Laura would have to push me around in a wheelchair.

This was the first peek I got of my leg after they unwrapped it.  That's the wound vac sucking all the fluid out and applying constant pressure to ensure the graft takes and doesn't get infected.  Science is cool!

The good news is, they got all the cancer out and it didn't spread to my lymph nodes.  Hooray!  Such a relief that we celebrated by picking up takeout.  I spent all night texting people to thank them for their prayers on my behalf.  It was funny to hear back from many who really weren't expecting to hear good news from me.  We were all surprised at my good fortune since the odds definitely weren't in my favor.

Celebrating the good news

The bad news is that my leg looks like I survived a shark attack and I have some damage to my nerves which makes walking incredibly painful so I'll have to go to physical therapy.  I change the dressing on my wound twice a day and a month later I'm finally able to look at it without gagging.  It was looking pretty gross and red so I sent a picture of it to my surgeon and they had me come in.  Luckily no infection and the skin graft took.  She showed me pictures from the surgery.  I requested pictures prior to surgery and was so excited to finally see them.  She let me take a picture of them on her phone so they look kinda weird but it works.  I won't post the many "progress" pics I've taken since the surgery because they aren't appropriate for the internet.  You probably don't think these are but since there's no blood or puss, I'm going with it.  

My leg after the cancer removal

My leg after they finished their work

So the big football shape is called a Keystone Flap.  They cut a large piece of my skin and almost completely removed it except where it was staying connected by a thread in a couple places, then they stretched, pulled, and turned it to get it to cover that huge circle of open wound.  After hours of manipulating things, they finally decided they couldn't stretch my skin any tighter and had to do a full skin graft.  The graft is the red oval.  The graft looks absolutely disgusting right now so I'm thankful it's not twice the size and they were able to cover most of it with the flap.  The flap is really tight!  Once the swelling goes down, that part of my leg will be skinnier than my other leg because it's pulled so tight, kind of like when you wear tights.  If the melanoma had been somewhere else, like on my back, none of this would've been necessary and it probably would've been removed in the office.  Since the skin on the shin is already pulled so tight, there is no give for pulling the wound shut.  That's why I had to have the plastic surgeons come in and work their magic.  My leg and foot are still so swollen I can only wear my Birkenstock's with the buckles on the loosest setting.  But I am healing and looking forward to going for a walk someday.  Right now the only walking I do is when I have to walk from the parking lot into the grocery store.  I refuse to drive one of those carts around with the basket on them but trust me, it would be faster than my slow hobble!

There have been so many miracles besides the cancer not spreading.  Covid is everywhere and the fact that I didn't have covid or any of my doctors was a miracle.  It was a real nail biter waiting to hear if I tested negative because I'd been exposed multiple times.  I was one of the last surgeries to happen at that hospital because the next day they canceled them all due to staffing issues.  God has been so good to me.  Thank you for your prayers!