Whole, With No Hole
The hole where my belly button was has closed up. I am whole and holeless. It sort of looks like a navel again, although it is a petite little thing. It is maybe only about a half inch across. Dr. Schwartz said it would look like a navel, and by gum, it does. Not that I am about to have it pierced or anything. I might contemplate it, however.
I saw Dr. Caputo on Wednesday and he gave me a complete check-up. He said everything is healing nicely. After the exam, he told me that he had decided against vaginal cuff radiation. I see him again in two months for a follow-up Pap smear and after that, I will just have regular check-ups. Hooray.
However, while I was in his office, a miracle occurred. I got Dr. Caputo to laugh. He is a very serious man and frequently when I have cracked jokes he just sort of stared at me. But after he told me that I would not have to have the vaginal cuff radiation, in which a small radiation-emitting thingy is placed into my vagina near to where the cervix was (hence the term “cuff”), I got him. I told him that a friend of mine has referred to this as “radioactive sex.” He laughed.
My main incision, across from one hipbone to the other is almost completely healed, but there is about three inches that are still open and need to bandaged daily. The open area is starting to close up rapidly now.
And the rest of Wednesday was just wonderful, too. Before I saw Dr. Caputo, I ate lunch with Judy Chervenak. I was supposed to eat with both Judy and her husband, Frank, but I got stuck in traffic right by Yankee Stadium and ended up missing Frank, who had to fly to Boston. So, Judy and I ate at a wonderful Spanish restaurant named Malaga. Judy recommended the shrimp and it was wonderful, with enough garlic to knock a horse over. I had this fear that poor Dr. Caputo was going to be flattened by my breath, but then Judy was running off to a dentist’s appointment, which was probably worse.
After Dr. Caputo, I drove down to the Empire State Building and picked up Joan, since we were both going to Tarrytown to see our friend Lanning Taliaferro play in her steel band. Lanning, who is education editor for the Journal-News, plays in a Caribbean steel band called Steel Passion. You have to know Lanning to see why this is so funny, since she is incredibly pale skinned. But then again, so is the majority of the band. She never played a steel pan before last year, but now she is playing the rhythm guitar part in the band, hammering away on three pans.
The band was great and they were playing at the Washington Irving Boat Club, right on the Hudson and in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge. There was a cool breeze off the river and Joan and I ate sausage and pepper heroes and I had a beer. The perfect end to the perfect day.
The other good news of the day is that Dr. Caputo said that I can go swimming again. He says that I can start doing sit-ups on June 11, which is the same day I go back to work.
He also said that I can have sex again. Now I just have to find a man I like. Hey, things are starting to go my way, so maybe I will.
I saw Dr. Caputo on Wednesday and he gave me a complete check-up. He said everything is healing nicely. After the exam, he told me that he had decided against vaginal cuff radiation. I see him again in two months for a follow-up Pap smear and after that, I will just have regular check-ups. Hooray.
However, while I was in his office, a miracle occurred. I got Dr. Caputo to laugh. He is a very serious man and frequently when I have cracked jokes he just sort of stared at me. But after he told me that I would not have to have the vaginal cuff radiation, in which a small radiation-emitting thingy is placed into my vagina near to where the cervix was (hence the term “cuff”), I got him. I told him that a friend of mine has referred to this as “radioactive sex.” He laughed.
My main incision, across from one hipbone to the other is almost completely healed, but there is about three inches that are still open and need to bandaged daily. The open area is starting to close up rapidly now.
And the rest of Wednesday was just wonderful, too. Before I saw Dr. Caputo, I ate lunch with Judy Chervenak. I was supposed to eat with both Judy and her husband, Frank, but I got stuck in traffic right by Yankee Stadium and ended up missing Frank, who had to fly to Boston. So, Judy and I ate at a wonderful Spanish restaurant named Malaga. Judy recommended the shrimp and it was wonderful, with enough garlic to knock a horse over. I had this fear that poor Dr. Caputo was going to be flattened by my breath, but then Judy was running off to a dentist’s appointment, which was probably worse.
After Dr. Caputo, I drove down to the Empire State Building and picked up Joan, since we were both going to Tarrytown to see our friend Lanning Taliaferro play in her steel band. Lanning, who is education editor for the Journal-News, plays in a Caribbean steel band called Steel Passion. You have to know Lanning to see why this is so funny, since she is incredibly pale skinned. But then again, so is the majority of the band. She never played a steel pan before last year, but now she is playing the rhythm guitar part in the band, hammering away on three pans.
The band was great and they were playing at the Washington Irving Boat Club, right on the Hudson and in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge. There was a cool breeze off the river and Joan and I ate sausage and pepper heroes and I had a beer. The perfect end to the perfect day.
The other good news of the day is that Dr. Caputo said that I can go swimming again. He says that I can start doing sit-ups on June 11, which is the same day I go back to work.
He also said that I can have sex again. Now I just have to find a man I like. Hey, things are starting to go my way, so maybe I will.
posted by Valerie DeBenedette at 12:31 PM
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