Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Stubborn stitches...

I telephoned the liaison nurse here in Cardiff this morning, because
Charlie still has a rogue suture under his arm from his last chest
drain.
He had two sutures removed from the same place a couple of days after
he came out of hospital, but the final suture was buried in the scab.
It has been hanging on stubbornly ever since, and although the
consultant said it wasn't that important so long as there was no
infection, obviously it will have to come out at some point, as it is
clearly going through Charlie's skin.
It has been bothering me, and Charlie is very nervous about having it
touched - I imagine it must be pretty tight and uncomfortable as the
skin is healing around it. And surely, the longer it is there, the
more difficult it will be to get out.
The scab is still in situ - in part because it is stuck to the suture,
so I wasn't really sure what to do.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the liaison nurse told me to soak
the scab every day this week, in the hope of getting it to break down
and come off, leaving the suture more accessible.
Then, I'm to take him onto the cardiac ward at the hospital next
Monday morning, before we go to fracture clinic to get his plaster
cast taken off.
All being well, they'll be able to whip the suture out then.
I have to say, I'm not looking forward to it at all - Chas is very
protective of the area, and doesn't even like me examining it - let
alone touching it, so he's really not going to like them digging
around to get the stitch out.
We'd really appreciate your thoughts and prayers that it's not too
traumatic for him. I know it seems trivial after everything he's been
through, but I hate the thought of him being really upset about it and
having to go through yet more unpleasant medical procedures. I feel
some serious bribery coming on.
Oh, and Charlie's teacher rang before - she's arranged for me to go up
after school this afternoon to meet his new teacher, which is good.
One more thing to tick off my list!

Sent from my iPhone

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