Praise the Lord and Pass the Bacitracin

Ok, I know nobody will believe this, but the infection is GONE. Is that the Power of Prayer or the incredible care I provide the Toad? I'd like to think it is a little of both.

After harassing the doctor's offices many times yesterday because I was in near panic mode, we finally settled on the fact that he wasn't going to be seen until this morning. I wasn't happy about it, but that is how it had to be. Dr. DD's office did tell me to clean out the wound with some peroxide, which I did. I also used some antibacterial/antimicrobial soap around the wound site and then covered it with sterile gauze. I don't know if that did the trick, or if it was the massive quantities of prayers inundating the Good Lord. Whatever, I'll take it. Peace of mind is a beautiful thing. I will always be willing to pay the co-pay for good old fashioned Peace of Mind!

We saw Dr. DD this morning bright and early (thanks to harassing the staff) and he was totally unimpressed by the wound. "Granular tissues" or something like that . . . I asked him if it bothered him that the subcutaneous sutures were exposed and he said very simply, "No." He explained that Johnny will take months to heal in this area. This is due in large part to the chemotherapy. Chemo patients heal much differently and over a longer period of time than others. He said that although it looks bad, it really isn't. I asked if he thought Johnny should have an antibiotic, you know, just in case. He said very simply, "No." Then he and Johnny went off on a tangent about baseball, football, the kids, having a teenager, mission trips to Guatemala, blah blah blah. . . (Oh, he did tell me that he liked my bracelet -- it is my mexican-inspired bracelet from my best friend Laurie -- mad props, Laurie Lou!) Then we were out of there and on our way home with Peace of Mind in our pockets.

So, again I thank you all for keeping Johnny in your prayers. We continue to see how well it works.

Now on to other matters. My mom just got out of surgery (PRAY FOR HER, TOO, PLEASE!) for a long-standing issue with hernia repairs gone bad. Initially she had a hernia repair done for what appeared to be a "simple" hernia. Never say simple where my mother is concerned. The poor dear, if it can go wrong with her it most likely will. Anyway, to repair the hernia, the doctor used a mesh overlay (very commonly used, standard practice). My mom had a reaction to this mesh and had to go to the Mayo Clinic for a surgery to have the mesh removed. Obviously removing the mesh meant that she now has the hernia to deal with all over again. She needed time to recover from the involved process of removing the mesh so hernia repair surgery was delayed. Finally, today was the day to have the hernias repaired once and for all (fingers crossed). There were a total of three hernias that required repair and the doctor was able to fix them all. He said that things are looking pretty good (keep your fingers crossed) and that the bowel went back into place with relative ease. She will be in the hospital (SJRMC) for a day or two and will not be able to lift anything for a very long time.

I just hope and pray this is it for her. If you know my mom, you know that there are multiple health problems that she has dealt with for most of her adult life. It would be really nice if she could just heal up and have several years in a row that don't require surgery/hospitalization. Especially since she has no insurance . . . yeah, that just blows.

Well, people, you know what to do. Pray, pray, pray.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to "Pray without ceasing." So if you aren't praying right now, you are WRONG!