Saturday, June 16, 2007

Not so Pretty Pictures

OK, I'm gonna write a little bit here and then skip several lines so that if you don't want to see pictures of a finger with three surgical "pins" stickin' out of it, you don't have to.
But if you're blessed/cursed with a morbid curiosity, like LaPhlegm, you can just scroll down and take a peek.

The Dearly Beloved said, and I feel kinda like LBJ, showing off his surgical scar. At least I'm not holdin' Tipper Sharpton up by his ears!

Ok, still with me? Good for You, Stout Hearts!

This one on the left, Mom took, I tried several times, but I just couldn't get the angle right. I wanted this angle so you could see how they stick out from the surface.

This one, with the lighter in the shot, to give it a little bit of scale, is just from a little different angle.

And lastly, this one. I tried to get a little closer, so you could see a bit more detail. I'm just not a good photographer, yet.



They are supposed to come out Thursday. Now at 52, I've never had a broken bone, y'all. [Noses don't count] I don't know from Pins and their insertion/removal. So I call the Doc's office last week from the Lake to find out about this removal process. I'd forgotten that he was goin' to go play "Camp" Doc to his Nurse's Church Camp late last week. So the office Ladies bandied my question about and told me that he would pull them out. "PULL them out?" I asked, somewhat more anxious than when the conversion started. "With me AWAKE?" I asked, absolutely horrified at the prospect. The young, somewhat naive, clerk put me on hold. Candy, The Doc's longtime billing-person came on the line. I've known her since at least 1999. She said, "Holly, the Doc does this all the time. Even with little kids. It doesn't hurt. Or at least not much." I thanked her for bein' honest and hung up.
Friday, my ABG called. I asked her if she remembered how it felt when this same Doc pulled the two pins out of her big toe when she was 11. She said, she did. He told her to look away while he counted to "3". By the time he got to "3", she didn't feel anything. That's b/c he pulled the pins out at "2". Lest you think I'm a terrible Mother and sent her to the Dr.'s office with the sitter or something...I was there, I just don't remember. So if my ABG, who had a pain threshold down around her knees when she was 11, can handle it, I can handle it.

6 comments:

Barbara said...

LOL You'll be fine.

Bonnie said...

There'd be no guarantee of me leaving those things in until the next doctor visit...if something's sticking up on my hands, I have to mess with it. I almost pulled out my own stitches once after I fell off my bike, because I was just tired of not being able to sit cross-legged without being poked by the knots (they were on my outer calf). Patient, I am not.

And that doesn't look too painful. I'll bet him pulling them out feels like yanking out a hair, at the most. :-)

HollyB said...

Babs,
thanks for deflating my anxiety. if a friend laughs at me, I must me takin' myself too seriously.

Squeaky,
in 2004, this Doc did a twofer on me: fixed my R. "trigger thumb" and L. torn Achilles tendon @ the same time. In the first 8 days, just from normal movement, I busted 2 of 4 stitches in my hand, and 2 of the 14 in my leg. I wadn't ridin' a bike or runnin' or nuttin'. I was hobblin' around the house on one crutch!
These may not LOOK painful, but I've gotten sloppy and bumped my hand, on a door jamb and my finger nail on a steering wheel. One long, loud scream and watery eyes, but no Cussin' since I was w/ Mom.
I just want the dang thangs OUT!

911DOC said...

are those staples? if they are don't pull them out. if they are pins and your surgeon said to pull go ahead.

staples need a special removal tool.

obtw, thanks for visiting my blog and thank you for the props. come by anytime.

HollyB said...

911doc, they're pins. I'm leavin' in until Thursday. I have a Post-op appt w/ my Surgeon then. I've been seein' him since the late '80's...this is the 4th cuttin' on me in three trips to the OR. One of those was a "two-fer".
I'll let him take the pins out, it's included in his fee. I'm just too much of a coward to yank those babies out of my own flesh and bone, despite having a high pain threshold. I think I amy expand on that in a future blog.

phlegmfatale said...

oooooohhhh, nifty!!!

[How'd I miss this post?!!!]

FUN! Can I pull them out for you? I'll give you $5 if you let me pull them out. OK, $5 per pin.

Ok. $20 for all three.

$40?

Pretty please?

This is how I negotiate to pull the teeth of chirrins. They usually cave in at $5.