The Incision Unveiled

[tapati]

Finally got around to taking pictures of my new scar. It's well on it's way to being healed and isn't bad, as scars go. They have these pads you can place on top of scars that minimizes their appearance and makes sure they heal flat. I'll get one soon.

Comments

[tapati]

I'm feeling pretty good about it. Small price to pay for getting rid of that level of pain every day.

I'm trying to keep in mind also that wearing the collar is what I have to do to be free of that horrible (8, 9, 10 level) pain and be able to go to sleep easily where I used to take a couple of hours with a sleeping pill trying to sleep through the pain. By comparison it's bearable. :)

[mariadkins]

wow sweetie that's not bad at all! {hugs}

[tapati]

Yeah it's hard to imagine everything they did looking at that relatively small incision. I don't know how they did it. I feel pretty good about it after the horrid scars on both chest and legs after my heart surgery. Perhaps if this were my first large surgical scar I'd be freaked. I know it took some adjusting after heart surgery. (I bleached my hair blond to distract me from it.)

[mariadkins]

thomas' kidney transplant scar isn't any worse than an appendectomy scar. blows my mind.

[lunaetstellae]

Wow!!
After the redness goes away, I'll bet it will be unnoticeable.
Did they use glue on it, instead of stitches? Or maybe i just can't even see the stitches. . .

[tapati]

I got the stitches out already! :)

I agree, I think after it fades one will hardly know it's there.

[tapati]

Yes, I finally got neck surgery to stop the nerve pain radiating down my right arm for the past year. It got to the point I could barely sleep at night. I had to get sleeping pills and it still took an hour or more to get to sleep.

The surgeon removed two disks and the ligament which had turned to bone (some weird rare disease causes it, called OPLL). He told me after that the bone was pressing on the nerve cluster, causing all the inflammation and pain. That's why the cortisone injections didn't last very long.

They then used donor bone to fill the gap where the disks were and pinned them to the vertebrae. Now it's a wait in the collar for the fusion to get fully established, where my bone joins to that donor bone. They'll do x rays in a few weeks to see how that's going.

The pain after surgery was a fraction of the pain I had been in so it's been a breeze. I would have done it sooner if I knew that it could be so easy. I'm already off pain meds entirely and surgery was Jan 24th.

[tapati]

I've read elsewhere that it's usually required but I don't know what Kaiser does. I'm sure I'll hear about it at my next appointment after they've seen the x-rays. I know my muscles will be a bit weak after being in the collar all of this time.

[kisekileia]

It really doesn't look bad considering how recent the surgery was. It doesn't look any worse than the scar on my foot from September--about the same size, too.

[tapati]

Yeah I think it's doing pretty good at this point.