My stitches are itching like crazy, it's driving me absolutely freaking crazy!
I'm not scratching them though, I'm gently massaging them about every 10-15 minutes, gently rubbing the skin around them, trying to make the itchies go away but it's not really helping.
It would be awesome if I could use some anti-itch creme or something on them to take the edge off.
It's insane how badly they itch.
My surgical follow up appointment is on October 7th, that's when they are going to take them out.
That's a wicked long time to have stitches in.
The standard length of time is 14 days or you run the risk of skin growing over the threads and making it very difficult to take them out.
Difficult as in wicked bad awful painful.
Not looking forward to that because mine have now been in since the 8th, that's 21 days.
It will be 29 days when they finally come out, that's way too long.
The nurses who are coming here every other day now to take vitals and change the bandages, keep telling me that I need to get these stitches out, and I keep telling them when my appointment is, but they keep saying that's too long, it's going to be hard to get them all out.
What am I supposed to do about that?!
I've called my doc, I have an appointment, I have told them about the nurses opinions on the stitches, there's not much else I can do.
It's been 21 days since the surgery, and I'm still bruised up.
My arms are a disgusting shade of green and yellow mixed with some blue and purple.
I still have needle marks and surgical tape stuff on my arms too.
*Edited at 1:30am to add a new picture.*
Sebastian helped me a bit ago with the itch problem, he took off the bandage and was going to just gently rub along the sides of the scar/stitch line and wipe it down with a baby wipe to get it a little clean for me because the whole length of it itches wicked way bad, and that's when we figured out why it is itching so much.
It's all healed up, there are no open areas at all, but where the stitches are, there are some small scabs.
No, he did not pick them off, he simply wiped them off with a baby wipe and a skin prep wipe one of the nurses left here.
A few of the nurses have left the basic wound care supplies in the little hospital tub/bin that all patients take home.
It usually has the standard stuff like toothpaste, a toothbrush, baby powder, lotion, and the hospital body wash stuff.
I'm sure those of you who have ever been in the hospital for a stay, or had a family member in for a stay, know what little tub/bin thing I'm talking about.
They are usually pink no matter what hospital you go to, pink tub/bins full of body care supplies to make your stay in the hospital easier.
Anyway, all of those scabs are the reason it itches.
They are all healed and dried up, but just sitting on my skin, so he took a baby wipe and just wiped them all off.
It felt sooooo good, OMG, it felt awesome.
Then he took one of the skin prep wipes and wiped the whole suture line and the sides of the line, all over, and then put the bandage back on and taped it down really good.
It's looking really good, no open areas, no infection spots, all healed up.
I can't see my own back, so I had him take a picture of it for me.
You can click it for bigger if you want, unless of course stuff like this grosses you out, but I promise there's no blood, no puss, nothing disgusting at all.
I'm sooo glad I had Sebastian* do that, it doesn't itch anymore at all.
Yay!
Sebastian was not awake until 1:30am. He went to bed at a little before midnight because he was helping me clean off the itchies.
I'd say right after I originally made this post is when I asked him to do it for me.
The original plan was to just wipe my back down with a baby wipe, to just get it a little clean, (can't get my back wet till the stitches come out) and that's when he saw all the little scabs and when he started wiping, they just started falling off.
====================
I'm not scratching them though, I'm gently massaging them about every 10-15 minutes, gently rubbing the skin around them, trying to make the itchies go away but it's not really helping.
It would be awesome if I could use some anti-itch creme or something on them to take the edge off.
It's insane how badly they itch.
My surgical follow up appointment is on October 7th, that's when they are going to take them out.
That's a wicked long time to have stitches in.
The standard length of time is 14 days or you run the risk of skin growing over the threads and making it very difficult to take them out.
Difficult as in wicked bad awful painful.
Not looking forward to that because mine have now been in since the 8th, that's 21 days.
It will be 29 days when they finally come out, that's way too long.
The nurses who are coming here every other day now to take vitals and change the bandages, keep telling me that I need to get these stitches out, and I keep telling them when my appointment is, but they keep saying that's too long, it's going to be hard to get them all out.
What am I supposed to do about that?!
I've called my doc, I have an appointment, I have told them about the nurses opinions on the stitches, there's not much else I can do.
It's been 21 days since the surgery, and I'm still bruised up.
My arms are a disgusting shade of green and yellow mixed with some blue and purple.
I still have needle marks and surgical tape stuff on my arms too.
*Edited at 1:30am to add a new picture.*
Sebastian helped me a bit ago with the itch problem, he took off the bandage and was going to just gently rub along the sides of the scar/stitch line and wipe it down with a baby wipe to get it a little clean for me because the whole length of it itches wicked way bad, and that's when we figured out why it is itching so much.
It's all healed up, there are no open areas at all, but where the stitches are, there are some small scabs.
No, he did not pick them off, he simply wiped them off with a baby wipe and a skin prep wipe one of the nurses left here.
A few of the nurses have left the basic wound care supplies in the little hospital tub/bin that all patients take home.
It usually has the standard stuff like toothpaste, a toothbrush, baby powder, lotion, and the hospital body wash stuff.
I'm sure those of you who have ever been in the hospital for a stay, or had a family member in for a stay, know what little tub/bin thing I'm talking about.
They are usually pink no matter what hospital you go to, pink tub/bins full of body care supplies to make your stay in the hospital easier.
Anyway, all of those scabs are the reason it itches.
They are all healed and dried up, but just sitting on my skin, so he took a baby wipe and just wiped them all off.
It felt sooooo good, OMG, it felt awesome.
Then he took one of the skin prep wipes and wiped the whole suture line and the sides of the line, all over, and then put the bandage back on and taped it down really good.
It's looking really good, no open areas, no infection spots, all healed up.
I can't see my own back, so I had him take a picture of it for me.
You can click it for bigger if you want, unless of course stuff like this grosses you out, but I promise there's no blood, no puss, nothing disgusting at all.
I'm sooo glad I had Sebastian* do that, it doesn't itch anymore at all.
Yay!
Sebastian was not awake until 1:30am. He went to bed at a little before midnight because he was helping me clean off the itchies.
I'd say right after I originally made this post is when I asked him to do it for me.
The original plan was to just wipe my back down with a baby wipe, to just get it a little clean, (can't get my back wet till the stitches come out) and that's when he saw all the little scabs and when he started wiping, they just started falling off.
That pic is wicked bad! I don't think it's going to leave a permanent scar at all; it looks really neat and good :)
I need to get my son to a scoliosis specialist ASAP...his chiro told us he had a very small curvature, pretty much straightened it out with adjustments, and then the boys were in that car wreck with their dad and it seems bad again just looking at it.
I remember your post where you said I needed to get him checked out regardless of how slight the curve is, so I am going to do that as soon as I can.
I hate that you have had to go through all of this with your scoliosis, but your misery has alerted me to what I need to do to help my son.
Get well soon!
I'm really just itching looking at the pic! I'm allergic to mosquitoes and well, there's no avoiding them here, but I can't scratch or the bites will turn into painful knots. It helps me to just sort of absentmindedly scratch my leg or some other safe place. It at least takes out the bulk of the psychological aspect of it.
Last summer I had stitches from my back surgery in for over a month. I hope the days fly and that someone gets you something to help with the itching. I took benadryl when the itching got bad. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
Scoli cannot be cured by doing adjustments and don't let a doctor or a chiropractor tell you otherwise.
Scoli is a progressive disease, the adjustments will only be temporary, and for his entire life, he'd have to go to a chiro 3 times per week, forever, to just get it cracked so it feels better.
But it's a temporary fix for a progressive problem.
I have to get Mark checked out once I'm recovered. It's looking like he has a slight curve, and if it turns out that he does have scoli, I'll be having him treated now while he's young, I will not make him go through life in pain and having to go through what I've had to go through my whole life, no fucking way.
I don't blame my parents for not getting me the right treatement, but back when I was a teen, they really didn't know just how severe scoli was, they also didn't know it was genetic or progressive, my parents did what the doctor told them to do, so they did their best.
Now that I know more about this disease, I will do everything I can to help them and make them not suffer later in life.