staples GONE!

So exciting - my staples were removed on Wednesday. I had 16 staples in my head and for the most part, they didn't bother me at all. But the past few days, I could just feel them. They didn't hurt or itch or tickle or anything like that, it was just this undefinable weirdness. And as I was getting more comfortable showering,  I would touch them more, which just increased the weirdness. It was time to get them the heck out of my head.

I had my follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon and to start things off, he took the staples out.

 source

Again, more weirdness. It didn't hurt at all, but I could definitely feel it. It felt like he was just snipping the staples, though I didn't feel the tool touching my head and didn't feel the staples actually coming out.

He also started talking to me about the pathology report during this and I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying while taking notes but was totally distracted by the odd feeling I had going on because of the removal.

Yeah, it's all a bunch of weirdness and it continued after the staples were removed. I was fine during the appointment, but then I put my slouchy beret back on and my head was not having that. But, you know, didn't want to show off my tonsure to the rest of the hospital so it had to suck it up. And even after I got home and took the hat off, there was still this odd tingling, verging enough towards the pain line that I took some Tylenol. And right now I'm wearing a silk scarf because some friends are coming over and the odd tingling has come back, but it's pretty far away from the pain line - just highly distracting.

Pictures after the jump!


Here's my head with staples a week and a half after surgery

The purple line is where my surgeon drew on my head to ensure he cut the right area!

And here's my head sans staples

Still kinda gory, but better. The marker has faded a bit and will continue to do so, especially once I'm allowed to properly scrub my scalp, which won't be for another month. Right now I can lather and rinse and all that good stuff, but have to be gentle.

And it's hard to tell in these pictures, but my hair is really growing! It's probably a good 1/4" right now and is entering into the soft phase instead of the bristle-y one. The lower parts of my hair are getting way too long, but I'm going to just let it all keep growing until right before I go back to work. My hope is that by then the top of my head will have grown out enough so I can have a normal hair style and not be so reliant on scarves and hats. Fingers crossed!