Got an appt to have my stitches taken out Apr 14th in Cody. That was a Thursday and they set it up at 10:15 a.m. so I could go on the Senior bus. Had a few things to pick up at WalMart so had time for that before the appt. John gave me his number so I could call when I was done and he'd come back and pick me up. Figured it would take about 45 minutes. We got to WalMart at 9:30 and I whipped down the aisles and got everything I needed in 15 minutes. John was done at same time so off we went to the clinic.
I got right in and the nurse gently took of the humongous bandage and hmmd about what I had on there. I explained it was a "drum" to keep the graft from collapsing and the Blgs docs said the nurses in Cody could take the stitches out. She called in another nurse and they both decided they weren't sure how to go about removing it. They had never seen one like that before. So she called the Blgs office and Wentzel was gone until May 2nd. Dr. Peters was also gone until May 2nd. I didn't know him, but he's in that same Blgs office. Then she called Dr Williams and he was out of his office but she left a message. Dr. Williams is the dermatologist that comes to Cody periodically from Billings. Didn't know him either. Anyway she said I might have to go home until they heard from Dr. Willams about how to go about this. I really didn't want to do that, because I had had that bandage on long enough and it wasn't going to stay put forever. Besides I was on the bus and wouldn't just be able to come back that same day. Hmmmm. They decided I definitely could not leave that on there until May 2nd. I told them Dr. Lund was the one that sewed it on and he was Dr. Wentzel's helper. So they tried Wentzel's office again for Lund and got him. YAY!!!! The nurse had a cell phone and Dr. Lund talked her through the procedure. Told her exactly which knot to look for and to cut. She did and it all came right off. She was impressed and said it was the easiest "bolster" she'd had to do. The stuffing up my nostril had a stitch around it as well, but by cutting the first knot it just came right out too. I could breathe!!!
Dr. Lund asked if she could e-mail him pictures from her phone and she could. I asked if she could e-mail them to me too. She did. After carefully and painstakingly taking out all the stitches she took the pics. Then she let me see in the mirror. Glad she did that or I would have thought I'd never be the same again after that bandage came off. She did put another rather large bandaid over the sore. I could change that one daily. Needed to clean it every day with peroxide and dry it, then put goopy salve on it until it quits scaling. It's an anti - bacterial salve.
This whole procedure took until 11:30. Just when I was going out of the nurse's room the receptionist came to tell me my ride was there. I hadn't called him yet. Figured they would be at lunch and I'd just wait for them to finish to come back and get me. But they all decided to wait for me. What a great bunch of people. John said he was afraid he'd be in the middle of lunch when I'd call, so they were really debating on how long to wait. Glad they did wait as I was starved.
After the first day I put on smaller bandaids, but they were still pretty big. Finally graduated to smaller ones mostly to keep from bumping it or itching it until it got some normal color back into it and really looks ever so much better. Took some time, but its looking good now, and feels better. I'm finally getting feeling back into the end of my nose. I can sort of blow it, but don't do it hard, just enough to loosen the stuff so I can wipe it out gently. I have sneezed a few times too, and it actually felt good to sneeze.
I go back to Billings for a check up on May 19th.
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