Strength is all that matters here..
For the last five days, I've been fighting off an infection in my leg due to my fifth staple, placed incorrectly at an angle. Normally, I would see a physician for the removal as well as antibiotic, but I recently received my bill from the emergency room. My jaw dropped.
$734.00 for FIVE staples. No antibiotics, no painkillers. Fucking ridiculous!
Considering I have less than half of that in the bank, a doctor's visit isn't going to happen. Given the amount of swelling around the wound, I realized the staples were becoming more and more of a problem as my started to grow over them. Considering how...challenging...the day had been already, I decided to take them out myself.
Equipped with a set of pliers in each hand, I slowly worked the staples forward. Unfortunately, I met resistance when I could not pull any of the remaining four staples out. I turned them carefully upside down, immediately seeing why I couldn't remove them...they had fused at the tip. Swearing profusely, I searched for wire cutters, to no avail. Finally, I grabbed a pair of cuticle scissors and carefully snipped the point of fusion. With a small gap in place, I used my pliers to separate the ends, eventually bending out the loop and running them through the wound.
After several rinses with a saline solution and peroxide, I cut tiny strips of adhesive tape into butterfly bandages. Hopefully, this will hold my leg together, since the swelling began to open my wound.
The bed calls to me, and I must heed. I leave you with a maxim that governs my survival:
"Pain is a master that never disappoints."
$734.00 for FIVE staples. No antibiotics, no painkillers. Fucking ridiculous!
Considering I have less than half of that in the bank, a doctor's visit isn't going to happen. Given the amount of swelling around the wound, I realized the staples were becoming more and more of a problem as my started to grow over them. Considering how...challenging...the day had been already, I decided to take them out myself.
Equipped with a set of pliers in each hand, I slowly worked the staples forward. Unfortunately, I met resistance when I could not pull any of the remaining four staples out. I turned them carefully upside down, immediately seeing why I couldn't remove them...they had fused at the tip. Swearing profusely, I searched for wire cutters, to no avail. Finally, I grabbed a pair of cuticle scissors and carefully snipped the point of fusion. With a small gap in place, I used my pliers to separate the ends, eventually bending out the loop and running them through the wound.
After several rinses with a saline solution and peroxide, I cut tiny strips of adhesive tape into butterfly bandages. Hopefully, this will hold my leg together, since the swelling began to open my wound.
The bed calls to me, and I must heed. I leave you with a maxim that governs my survival:
"Pain is a master that never disappoints."