Nearing the End

Today, having been given a whole day off from visiting my surgeon, I once again trekked across town (at the tail end of rush hour no less). I arrived late, but at least I was kind enough to let him know. Since he was in the ER, though, I think other people managed to keep him busy.

First off, he complimented my dress. Now, this evening was Parents' Night at school, so I was wearing one of my tailored dresses. And seeing as my surgeon is just the sort of highly-educated, Western-leaning, English-speaking professional Chinese parent that we target, getting a compliment was a particularly good thing. (On the flip side, it could just mean that I usually look like crap.)

Then, the bandage removal. Ooh, look how little pus is on the gauze. Granted, this was the outer gauze, not the inner gauze, but it was looking good. He also showed me the inner gauze, which did have more pus on it, but it was also a day and a half old.

Then, he looked in the wound and pronounced it clean. Surprisingly clean. (I must have a pretty good immune system, once it decides to start working.) So, we were moving on from the stent! But! He was going to have to wipe it out with Betadine. And that's when I saw wiping technique:

He takes forceps or a pair of scissors or some other pointy, metal object, wraps the end in gauze, and then dips that in the Betadine. Then, he runs this little tool along the inside of my abscess (yes, Gentle Reader, inside the hole in my leg). No wonder this part always hurts.

But then we were done! Three ladder strips to keep the edges together, some gauze, and then... Then! A waterproof Tegaderm sticky covering thing. Yes! I can shower again! (But it's not super waterproof, so I need to dry it immediately after showering and I am not allowed to take baths. I told him that I lived in China, of course I didn't have a bathtub. That got a laugh from him AND the nurse, and those ladies are nice but really don't have the language skills to keep up with my jokes.)

And then, he told me I didn't have to come back until Monday! Whoopee! Of course, I forget until after I left that I run out of antibiotics on Saturday and I don't know if he wants me to take more.

But from the way this thing has been itching all night, it's well on its way to healing. From intense pain to aggravating itch. Joy.

- Do you really care this was posted using BlogPress from my iPad?

Location:Beijing, China