Monday, October 08, 2007

At least there isn't a lot of blood.

You aren't going to believe these pictures. Dr. Crosby gave them to me when i went to Houston last week...there is no way i could've looked at them before now.


NOTE TO THE SQUEAMISH: these are very graphic.


It took me some time before i could look at them...now, I find them pretty interesting.
At least there isn't a lot of blood.Can you believe the precision of that circle?
That white horizontal thing is a tendon (not the ruler, silly) which was transplanted from my thigh area. There was a Lateral Collateral Ligament which had to be removed, so this tendon was used to replace that (?) The thigh area is now numb, but that's an acceptable exchange for stability in my knee.
Meet (meat?) my calf muscle. The bottom picture the side of my leg (knee is on upper left) where the "divot" from the tumor was. I have been assured that the muscle is going to atrophy and flatten out, but right now its pretty bulbous still. Once i saw this picture, i understood why.
And here we have the final product. That netting is the incredible material used to hold in the new skin and all of the innards freshly transplanted. The skin has grown around that material so that its nearly absorbed now.
Remember the Knee Juice Flask that i had to empty for the first few weeks? That is what that tube is there for. Man, that leg looks swollen.
My skin looks so dark from the radiation. Looking at these, i feel like i've come a LOOONG Way, Baby!

7 comments:

Martha said...

I am sitting at my computer going WOW, and then WOW again. Amazing. And that calf muscle looks a little like the rare steak I had yesterday! WOW! You are one tough cookie.

KB said...

aaaack! I may need a little bit more warning than that

... I have to go put my head between my legs and take deep breaths now.

hugs

the German said...

Sweet! Thanks for sharing the pictures! The muscles looks like the models that we have in our A&P Lab. I can't get enough of it! :P
I hope you are doing well! Good job, girl!

Zay said...

You have come a long way, kiddo. I'm so excited that you are progressing so well.

Anonymous said...

I'm with "kb"...breathe iinnnn....breathe ooouuutt...
where'd I put that Pepto?

Unknown said...

I am so not good with other people's blood. Where's my happy place?

Look how far you've come!!! Yay!

Anonymous said...

-- i think i'm turning japanese i think i'm turning japanese i really think so.... da da da da dun --