Progress report

Thursday January 29 was the two-week mark after surgery, and I had an appointment with the surgeon (whose office is an hour away from my home) to check in and have the staples out.

Dr. Smith was boyishly pleased by my progress and by the X-rays, which he insisted on showing me, over my protest, so I could tell him yet again how clever he is. (This man is 67 years old, so this is a second or third boyhood.) I find his transparent delight rather charming, and I told him how positive the message he sent just before surgery was.

The X-rays weren't really all that bad. I realized that the picture in my mind bore more resemblance to a crankshaft complete with connecting rods than to reality (in effect, metal caps on both the bones involved, plus, I assume, some connecting mechanism that doesn't show up on X-ray).

As for progress, I'm off the cane (which is a lot more trouble than it's worth) and I can walk without a limp. In fact, I was limping more before surgery than I am now.

Staples. These are literally staples, like the ones you'd use on a stack of paper, except bigger, and except that they don't bend down at the edges inside but just sit there. (Maybe they bend out. I'm not sure.)

I am told that the advantage of staples is speed of wound closure, and I am further somewhat piously told that this is important so that the patient is not under general anesthesia for too long. I'm suspecting, however, that the real reason is that the surgeon, having performed the interesting parts of the surgery already, is now bored and wants to get out of there ASAP.

The disadvantage is that having staples removed hurts. Quite a lot, actually, though Nevada, the nurse/ administrator, who removed them, was certainly as gentle as possible. Furthermore, the ends tear the sides of the incision as they are yanked out, which doesn't seem optimal to me. (!!)

Oh well. The incision is now held together with steri-strips, which will come off in their own time. The scar will not be attractive, but who cares.