The Stitches Are Out!

Perhaps I should say the stitch (singular) is out.

I went yesterday to have the bandages and suture removed from my wrist surgery! My doctor was out because his wife had given birth on Monday, so his nurse tended to me. As she cut through the layers of gauze and cotton and Ace Bandage, I fully expected to see some morphed, distorted, disgusting version of what used to be my tiny, healthy, normal left wrist. Much to my relief, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!

I was expecting a series of sutures running across my incision in the typical train-track fashion. Instead, I saw a raw (but well-closed) incision with two little black knots of nylon thread on each end. The incision itself is about 2 inches long, and the knots were just beyond the ends of the incision. Evidently, to avoid unnecessary scarring and to promote a smoother wound closure, they now stitch below the surface of the skin in a zig-zag pattern. So she lifted one end and snipped the knot, and then started to pull from the other end to remove the suture.

One word describes this process: OUCH!

I thought I was going to pass out. In case you've never had an injury to the underside of your wrist, I can now tell you from experience that this is one of the most sensitive areas on your body. Particularly when they start yanking a thread from one end and it slides back out in the zig-zag pattern that it went in with, and the skin has started to heal around it. Oh. My. Gosh. That's painful.

After she finished torturing me, she cleaned the incision and then covered it with Steri Strips, which is pretty much all you can see in the photo. You can also see some purple marks above and running the length of the incision. The one above it is where he wrote "Yes" and his initials on the day of surgery - they are required to do that to prove that they came to your bed in the pre-op area, and verified that they knew which part of your body they would be working on. Comforting. The longer line was drawn to guide the incision. He was actually extremely accurate with the incision. I'm impressed!

Copay at the hospital: $100
Copay at the Ortho's office: $20
Prescriptions, Surgery, Medical Supplies, Latex Gloves, Assorted Fees: $2,000+ (Thank God for insurance!)
Not having to wrap my left hand in a plastic Target bag every time I take a shower: Priceless...

I'm still extremely guarded with my left hand. I'm sure it'll just take some getting used to...