Staples-free day

Yesterday, I had an appointment at 4:45pm to see Dr. Adams at his Midland office; he’s the most excellent neurosurgeon who did my surgery. Dr. Adams is ultra busy. I think he has offices in 4 cities; his main office is the one in Saginaw. Around noon, I received a call from a young woman in his Saginaw office, and she told me that Dr. Adams was in surgery and wouldn't make it to any of his Midland appointments that afternoon. I had to go over to Saginaw to see Barb, his surgical RN, to have the staples in my neck removed. It was all rush, rush, and they wanted me over there as soon as possible. They even asked if I could make it there in a half hour. Ummm, no. We live more than a 30-minute drive from there. Thankfully, my sister, Kathy, was able to leave work right away, dash home to get me and drive me over there. Kev could not because he had to go back to work yesterday, & he's on afternoons this week. I couldn't drive myself because I'm not allowed to drive yet.

Once in Room No. 4 with Barb, as she was getting the implements ready to remove the staples, I told her I wanted to keep them. She immediately said no. Hey, wait a minute! Kathy piped in and told her she would just have to give them to me, and that yes, we are dealing with a very strange person. (I reveled in the description, being a big fan of strange.) Barb laughed. Kathy said, no, seriously, she even brought a container to put them in... and she pulled the little plastic Tupperware container out of my purse. Barb looked at it, then at Kathy, then at me, and she acquiesced. Smart gal, knows when she’s beaten. Ha! Kathy told her, "She even wanted to keep the chunk of bone they had to remove from her neck, but they wouldn't let her." Barb looked at me and said, "Honey, you are strange." I smiled and said, "I know."

Barb proceeded to remove the staples, and I could feel them being pulled out and then hear them landing in my little Tupperware container. I hurriedly told Kathy to hand me my phone, and had her take a photo... warning: this photo is kinda gross. But it's interesting.

Barb finished up and informed me that I was the only person that had ever asked her for the staples. Kathy informed her that I would most surely do a blog post about it. Oh yeah. Here they are, my staples:



All in all, a fun time.

Except the end part... where Barb told me my follow-up appointment with Dr. Adams was scheduled for April 7th. WTF! I can't return to work until he gives the go-ahead, and that has to be sometime well before April 7th. Barb asked what kind of work I do, and I told her. She said that I could contact her in 6 weeks and we would see if I was able to possibly return to work on a restricted schedule.

I was flabbergasted. I remember my initial appointment with Dr. Adams, from which I understood that for 2 weeks following surgery I wouldn't be able to do much of anything for myself, but I would likely be able to return to work after 4 or 6 weeks, depending on my progress. Though it's very, very difficult to get an appointment with Dr. Adams, I'm going to call today and see if I can see him a the 6-week timeframe, and go from there. I'm not going to risk anything going on with my neck just so I can return to work, but I'm also not going to set here on my ass in my living room until April 7th either. I shall find the happy medium.

I am on restricted physical movements right now and am not allowed to lift anything over five pounds. A half gallon of milk is my limit. I can begin to slowly start lifting my hands over my head, starting at should level and progressing slowly, so that I can brush my own hair and stuff. I do have to wear the collar whenever I am up and about, although if I'm sitting, like in the recliner, as I am now, or sleeping, I can forego the collar.

I got a lot of odd looks yesterday walking around with that collar on. I'll have to get a photo and share it with you. It looks like it's part of a Star Wars costume. Boo-yah! May the force be with you.