A Corn? Really?

After all that Jeff has endured and survived, he was disgusted to realize he needed minor foot surgery for a corn that had been giving him trouble for a few months.  He followed the post-surgery instructions fairly well – when and how to keep the incision dry, and later when to soak it, ointments, bandages.  When his foot was still fairly sore, he dropped a fresh bar of soap very close to the incision while showering and bruised the area further!  Drat!

Just one hitch with the foot surgery itself.  The surgicenter called the evening before the procedure to remind him to take his Lisinopril.  Jeff reasoned that heart patients are told to take their Lisinopril to keep their blood pressure down during surgery but that in his case, it was NOT a good idea to lower his already too-low bp.  His kidneys would survive.  As it turned out, he scared the anesthesiologist with a very low bp during surgery.  The poor man visited the recovery room frequently and emitted many loud sighs of relief as Jeff’s bp inched back up to his normal.  I wonder whether Jeff maybe should go to a hospital for short procedures rather than to a surgicenter.

Granddaughter Penny asked Grandpop how the doctor put him to sleep for his procedure, “Did they sing Hush Little Baby?”  She is fascinated with injuries and had the good fortune to accompany Grandpop on his follow-up visit with the surgeon.  She was very curious and insisted on watching the removal of the stitches.  She asked, “Grandpop, when are you going to cry?”  Pre-BMT Jeff may have passed out when having stitches removed but he has become a much braver man!

Otherwise, doctor visits are further between - and that seems okay.  He has dental and eye visits coming up.  So very, very ordinary.  In fact, Jeff is getting practice as a caregiver since he’s had to drive me to the retina specialist several times.

We are excited about Rider University’s Bone Marrow Registry, a campus club which I am advising.  This year the club is flourishing under the leadership of a sophomore biology major, Ally, who serves as a Gift of Life Campus Ambassador.  Gift of Life offers training and support for Ally’s team of cheek-swabbers and, through connection with other universities' Campus Ambassadors, ideas for promoting swab events on campus in very creative ways.  I love this program and hope we see folks in need of marrow or stem cells matched to Rider students and alumni in the future.