Day 23 - Recovery

March 4, 2012

Thought I'd post an update on my incisions just so those of you who are interested and not freaked out by that stuff can see the progress. I'll post the incision pictures at a small setting. Maybe that will help not freak everyone out. Click on the picture to see it closer.

First, as I said a while back, all the dogs seem to be taking turns checking up on me. Here is Spring Hill taking her turn.

Next, I've got a picture of my arm incision. Most of the glue is gone and the incision is healing up nicely. Not sure if all the redness will fade but most of it should. Right now I can still feel a little "tightness" when I turn my arm a certain way thanks to the little bit of glue that is still there.

Last, I've got a picture that I debated not even posting. It's one of my chest incision. There are several scabs from when the incision was seeping blood after I came home. The scabs are stuck to the glue which hasn't all come loose yet. The glue is starting to let loose though so we've got good progress there. It still hurts when I laugh though.

Day 6 - Recovery

Ack! I've got glue on me! Haha.

So one of the really cool things surgeons are starting to do these days is to use glue to close up incisions. I don't have a single external suture or stable on either my arm or chest incisions. It's all glue. 

The advantage to this that I see right away is there isn't a single point on either of my incisions that was open enough to allow any bacteria under the skin. Which means your body is less likely to get an infection during recovery. I still have some internal stitches but those will dissolve over time and not be an issue.

The photo on the left was taken five days after surgery. The photo on the right was taken ten days after surgery. You can see in the right photo that some peeling is beginning to occur.

As the incision heals the glue will begin to peel similar to a reptile molting his skin. There's no timetable on how long it will take for all of the glue to peel away. It all depends on my body and how quickly the incisions heal. My arm is healing faster than my chest at the moment which is why I used that in the photos.

I'll post pictures of our new "pet" tomorrow since the pictures are still on my main camera. That's it for today.