Incision

Grandma experiences more general discomforts that is affecting her sleep and rest. She takes one to two tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol as needed. This morning, my mom removed the steri-strips on her incision to improve her comfort level. My mom knows that Grandma's discomforts are related to the nerve, not the incision. But she wants to try anything that can make Grandma more comfortable.

The incision line is clean and dry. Due to the irritation of the drains, the area around the drain sites are red. My mom cleaned it and applied a light dressing over it. Drainage from Drain #1 is minimal. Drainage from Drain #2 is gradually reducing from 100 ml./day a week ago to 45 ml. yesterday. Grandma will see Dr. Yakimets next Tuesday (a week from today). Hopefully the drains can be removed then.

One way of managing the edema is to do exercises. Grandma has a whole list of exercises that she does everyday. Tomorrow, she will attend an education and support program at the Misericordia Hospital. The program is called Healing Connections. The multidisciplinary team consists of nursing, physiotherapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), clinical nutrition and support visitors. PT will provide information and exercise sessions. The topic areas covered by OT include management of lymphedema and energy conservation techniques. These will all be helpful to Grandma.