Staple free!

Well, one more step forward... the staples in my primary incision are now gone and replaced with steri strips (little pieces of sticky bandage that are supposed to fall off by themselves in a few days).  Given everything else going on with my belly, I admit I barely noticed the staples were there, despite the incision being fairly long.  That said it does seem a bit more comfortable to bend now.

Of course nothing can be simple.  All week I've asked my visiting nurses about removing staples since I've never had them before - I'm a complete ninny now and needed reassurance that this would be a quick and painless experience.  They all assured me it would be.  For the most part this was the case; a tug here, tiny sting there, until the very last one.  That one made me yelp when the technician tried to remove it.  Apparently the staples can start to twist and bend the wrong way, particularly when they are "ready" to come out.  She had to get a second technician to assist and they spent a few minutes twisting and bending it back so they could get it out.  Unexpected and not much fun, but it's out!

I also have to have a daily injection of Lovenox, a blood thinner, as a preventative measure against blod clots.  Since I am a ninny now, and also since I know it's temporary, I can't bring myself to do this on my own - I need the visiting nurses to do this for me.  However on the days I have an appointment, I'm not eligible for a visit.  This meant I had to find someone at Brigham who could help with it today.  The nurse wasn't in yet at the surgical office where I was for the staple removal, so I ended up going to my oncologist's office and asking if they could help (luckily Dana-Farber is right next door to BWH and connected via indoor pedestrian bridges).  They could - but even though I had brought the pre-filled syringe with me, they had to still get an order for the one dose from my doctor, have the pharmacy bring it up, and administer that injection instead of the one I brought (for all kinds of good reasons, I'm sure).  A lot of fuss for a 2-second injection, but it's my own fault for being a ninny and not planning ahead.

Thanks to the injection, I did get to see the infusion area where I will be for treatments.  I guess it is cozy enough for what happens there.  But I'll wait and think about that once we have a new start date on the calendar.