New Baby, Ed's in town, the 10 day forecast and 3 months home!

Baby Andrew 8 days old!

Stacy and Andrew

My brother, Edward, and Me!


Michele holding her new baby boy!

**Andrew Noah Littman**

7 pounds 10 oz, 20 inches long!

And...HEALTHY!!

I have been home for 3 months!!

So much has happened since I last updated my blog! I am a proud Aunt (again) of a beautiful, healthy, Nephew! Andrew Noah was born on May 19th and he is a miracle baby in addition to having brought such happiness into this family! Congratulations to Michele for baking this baby for as long as she did and to David and Sarah for their new precious addition to their family!

What a nice pleasure it has been to have my brother, Edward, here from California for a month...staying with me! He and I are very close and it is so nice to have the company in the house and to spend so much time with him. Ed lives in California so it is not often we can catch up and have quality bonding time! Fortunately for him, I cannot drive yet so he gets to use my car and the pool is open so it is like a full resort for a guest who stays here! Love having you here, Ed... I will miss you when you leave!

I would like to say that my health is great and that I am on the road to complete recovery however that would be to easy for Stacy. Does it ever work that easy for Stacy? No! I have added a new "ist" doctor to my list and I now see a urologist. I will spare you all the details as to why I am now seeing a urologist but ... I will be having a cystoscopy on Thursday and I am hoping it all turns out OK because I am just about on the 10 day 'forecast" for my hand surgery. (if you are not familiar with the forecast reference, see previous blog entry entitled weather forecast) and it explains it all!

Like I mentioned in my previous blog entries, I am so worried that the "team" that needs to be put together at UMDNJ has not been established yet. None of my doctors have heard from any UMDNJ doctors, or my hand surgeon and that concerns me a lot. The recovery period after my CMC joint reconstruction that I will be having is so important to my healing-- if one mistake is made it can make or break my healing ... or my life. I am so worried. This week starts my WEEK of pre-admission testing for surgery. I need cardiac workups, gastrointestinal workups, urologist workups, endocrinologist clearance, and last but not least I need my internist to clear me. ( But Dr. Bulan will clear me... right?? wink wink)

A teensy weensy part of my knee surgery incision from this summer's surgery has re-opened. We caught it early enough and the surgeon re-bandaged it with an Unna Boot dressing...so I hope when he removes it Wednesday, it will be healed.

If there is anyone out there that knows about Vitamin C deficiency, or knows someone who does know about this rare condition (that requires a port in my chest and 2 1/2 hours of IV vitamin C every night) I would be forever grateful if you could help me! It is so hard to be bounced around and I just cannot accept that this will be my life forever.

Check back here on Wednesday, after I see my hand surgeon but as of now....

Surgery is Friday, June 10th. I will be at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ for "supposedly" 3-5 days!

To be continued...

Stacy

Surgery on the Horizon

So much has happened in the last month. And so much is going to happen in the coming month! Unfortunately, we lost a great man in our family. My Uncle David passed away (My dad's brother-in-law). This man had strength that nobody I know ever had...with the numbers tattooed on his arm from the concentration camps, it was always known that we were not to discuss with Uncle David his story. I wish I had known his story...but I did find out that he was a survivor of 11 concentration camps. What strength! He will be missed.

Michele is having a baby on Thursday! It is truly amazing and she did a great job baking this baby in a complicated, high-risk "oven!" If all goes as planned, I will have a little Nephew on Thursday, May 12, 2011!

I am so proud of Uncle Mickey! He made the most amazing, brave, decision to have lap band surgery and he did not get cold feet! (I would not let him!) He came out of surgery well today and his new life and lifestyles will lead him to a healthier way of life!

Now...for Me. I am still battling with 'hospitalitis'... maybe a little bit better since I got some flowers. Although I have lost now close to 60 pounds, and I look great, I am not losing it the right way so the doctors are trying to figure out what's wrong with me. They better work fast... I unfortunately need surgery on my wrist which will take place on Friday, June 10th. I do not think I have ever had surgery on a Friday before. It is taking place in a different hospital than my "team Stacy" doctors practice so a whole new team of doctors need to be put together for me before I can have an operation in another hospital. My post-operative plan is what will make or break my recovery so it needs to be clear to these new doctors what needs to take place. Frankly, it petrifies me... however, there is not a local doctor at my hospital that deals with the "complicated..." Did you all know that I am complicated? Do you know how many doctors have called me complicated? A lot! It is not a great feeling... nor does it leave me much hope, but my hand surgeon, Dr. Capo, is a great surgeon who came highly recommended and I have faith he can fix my hand/wrist. (I hope!)

For those of you who do not know...I have a blood clot disorder. For that reason, I am on blood thinners for life. January 2009, I was diagnosed with 2 pulmonary embolisms in my left lung and a subclavian blood clot on the blood thinner Coumadin. This is why I remain on the blood thinner Lovenox which is an injection in my belly nightly for life. I received a letter from my insurance company telling me that I need to take anti-inflammatories before they would OK a MRI before my hand surgery! Due to my being on Lovenox and my blood clot disorder, I am not allowed to take ANY anti-inflammatory medicines ..nothing! Even as much as 1 Advil can be detrimental to my health. It remains very frustrating that the underwriting doctors at these insurance companies do not pay attention to the medications that I take. See, I have a complex case manager (because I'm complicated) and she knows all of my medications....she is a nurse!

I did call the insurance company back and I informed them that If I take
anti-inflammatory medications they will be responsible for paying for my funeral. I think they got the hint!

To be continued...
Stacy