Follow-up

I had my first follow-up visit with Dr. Gibb (the ENT surgeon) yesterday. He looked at my neck incisions, which are healing nicely. An internal stitch had worked its way to the surface, so he pulled it out. That sorta thing. He said it all looks good. Yay!

I mentioned how tired I am, and Dr. Gibb says it'll be 6 months before I'm back to 100%. 6 months! That's a long time. I mean, I'll be up and going long before then, I'm sure. But still. That'd be July! They must've really done a number on me.

Oh, he was also able to explain the numb patch! I hadn't expected him to; I figured it was a question for Dr. McCann, the thoracic surgeon. But I asked anyway, and Dr. Gibb said it's from the incision on my back. This didn't make sense to me, since the numb patch, which is about 6" x 4", is on the front of my ribcage. But he explained that those nerves come out from your spine and wrap around your side to the front, all the way to the middle. So a nerve that was cut on my back would cause numbness like I'm experiencing. But he said it will gradually shrink and disappear. Which is very good, because it's super annoying. I can feel pressure on the muscles and such underneath, but the skin is totally numb. So I'm glad that'll go away, even if, like everything else, it's gonna take ages. [sigh]