Unusually we didn't have to wait long to be seen. The surgeon came and had a look and decided that although the wound hasn't fully healed, it was now time to remove them as they were starting to embed into the surrounding skin.
I took my paracetamol (my own supply...lol) and then he removed them one by painful one.
Did it hurt? Hell YES! but I managed not to cry until the very last two. I knew those last two would be the worst as they were the ones that had continually dug into me every time I moved for the past 5 weeks - felt like having an injection with each step I took.
Sarah held my hand and helped me get through it - she said she stopped looking after the first two and doesn't know how I get through half of what they've done to me at times....I think I'm lucky in that I do have a fairly good pain threshold - and also lucky that I have people like Sarah to remind me that I'm doing okay, even when I feel I'm being a big wuss!
So now I'm free of the stitches but still not allowed a bath until the wound heals more. BAH! but at the same time I don't want to put myself in the line of trouble with regard to healing - so I'll wait longer....
It's almost like having a bath has become an obsession for me now. It's a marker, it means that if I can get in the bath for a long soak the wound is better - and until then I'm just waiting, waiting, waiting and hoping it holds.
The surgeon said he's 'optimistic' that the wound will fully heal but if not we'll have to look at wound packing for a time.
Having said that, no follow up appointment has been made for anyone to even check that it is healing - so guess I'll have to monitor it myself now then and make another appointment after Christmas/New Year if I'm worried.
