Four weeks ago, I had 51 staples removed from my scalp at the neurosurgeon’s office. I came back today for a follow-up appointment so they could see how I’ve been doing. Plus one other little thing.
Recently, I’d been feeling something weird on the scar on the side of my head. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had the nasty habit of picking at scabs before they’re fully healed. Well, I started picking at this thing until I eventually pulled it off. “That’s the weirdest scab I’ve ever seen in my life…”
It turned out that underneath the staples, there were four sutures, so this time, someone removed the remaining three sutures. He pulled out two that had mostly worked themselves out of the skin and cut one—it turned red when he removed it, so I was technically bleeding afterward.
And because he cut one suture, he said I’d need to come back in a few weeks for another follow-up appointment.
That wouldn’t be such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that getting to their office takes at least 30 minutes, so I’d be driving for over an hour to talk to someone for maybe five minutes.
He then said that given the distance, as long as I’m not having any issues, they might be able to let me take a few pictures of my head and send those instead. (I’m hoping that’s the case… I also hope they’ll be able to see the scars in those pictures, given that my hair has been growing back pretty quickly.)
The good news is that I’m now officially allowed to resume all regular physical activity, so I won’t be bending doctor’s orders when carrying a 50-pound Amazon delivery from the front door up a flight of stairs to the kitchen, which I may or may not have done about two weeks ago.
He had also asked how the RNS device was working now that it was switched to active mode. Well, that was supposed to happen yesterday, but I got a call the day before from Dr. White, who apologized because he was too sick to come to the office. The nerve of that guy, letting himself get sick like a normal human being…
So we rescheduled and that’s supposed to happen two days from now. At that point, I shouldn’t need to keep using the tablet and wand to scan my head every night. Dr. White said I won’t need to give it back, but given that it has one very specific purpose, maybe it’ll make a good paperweight? Or a doorstop? Hopefully, I can use it for something other than taking up space in the closet.