Not at all sure where Clever Bird's brains at at the moment. Baggy slept well, only got up six times, but slept like a log in between. So tiredness shouldn't be an excuse. And although, still extremely sore, the extreme internal pain of trying to move about has lessened considerably. So how come Clever Bird took three attempts to dress Baggy this morning?
Because of how sore Baggy's body-piercings are, once again she wore a dress; a long, grey floaty-type summery dress (as she only has one winter one). So to make it more wintry she wears a pretty lacy top under it and a shorter, black silky dress over it, then a furry cropped jumper over that. Okay, possibly an acquired taste, but Creative Clara thinks it looks fairly cool and it definitely suits Baggy's more slim-line figure. However! As Baggy sat down to post today's blog so that she could distract Freda Fretter from freaking out over today's staples removal, Clever Bird noticed that she'd put the lacy top on back to front as its label was sticking into her neck. Baggy took off the jumper, the black dress and the grey dress so that she could get to the top to take it off and put it back on again the right way round. Cue hot flush. She then redressed and sat back down to her blog. Only to notice that the grey dress was now inside out. Repeat performance to remove, jumper, black dress and grey dress to turn it the right way out. By now Baggy's staples are "burning" not helped by the continued hot flush, so this time Baggy left the jumper off. Clara sat down to her blog once more. It was time to leave for the Doctors so Calum asked if Baggy was ready. "Yes" said Baggy, "I just need to go and get my sheepskin coat". "Well, while you're up there, you might want to put your black dress on the right way round!" Ah well, Clever Bird's brain might not be working properly, but at least it burnt off a couple of calories, got the arm physio. exercises done AND stopped Freda worrying about the imminent staple removal; something that frankly once again Freda Fretter was correct about!
Baggy was given a special pair of weird scissors by the hospital to give to the nurse removing the staples. Stupidly Clever Bird let Freda Fretter read the instructions on how to use these scissors. Put them under the staple. Cut. Pull. Or words to that affect. Cue hot flush. And heart palpitations. The lovely nurse told Baggy that it wouldn't hurt. That in fact having staples out is less painful than stitches. Okay good. Baggy had only ever had stitches out once. That was last November when she had cubital tunnel syndrome surgery on her left arm (the op. she's supposed to have on her right arm on December 3rd). When those stitches came out it didn't hurt at all. "See Freda", says Clever Bird, "worrying over nothing once again".
Staple 1: Painful because there was no room to get the scissors under it without pressing on the sore skin, but once cut, pulling it out was fine. Phew! Big smile. "Oh okay that's fine". Relax. Staple 2: S**T, really? Ouch! Staple 3: "Okay Baggy do not swear". At this point Creative Clara decided to start wittering to the nurse about her blog to attempt to distract Baggy and Freda from the pain. And it was painful. Very. Requiring short pauses and sharp intakes of breath throughout the process as Clara couldn't speak! The nurse explained that for some reason the staples had either been put in at, or twisted to a very odd angle and were therefore deep under the skin at one side. Plus the area around them was very inflamed (well Baggy does have a metal allergy and they had been in an extra two days). Seventeen more staples and a lot of "ouching" later, oh the relief! Apparently the wound is healing well, but there's one part where the skin isn't knitting together, so Baggy has had to have an iodine dressing put on and must go back in three days to get it checked.
The good news is that now they're out it's nowhere near as painful. Baggy no longer feels as though she has a trapped zip on her skin! A zip that felt as though it was snagging on itself. Once again Freda had been correct in her concerns. Apparently because the staples were effectively twisted, they really were catching on each other. Never mind. They're out! Clever Bird decided to tell the nurse at that point, how worried Freda Fretter had been that when the staples were taken out, Baggy's stomach might just peel open and reveal what's left of her insides to the world! "Well yes, it does very occasionally happen" says the nurse. "What?????", "Oh sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said that". You think? "But my wounds going to be okay now isn't it?" asked Baggy. "Oh yes, it would already have split open if it was going to". Note to Clever Bird: sometimes it really is best NOT to ask.
Baggy also decided to ask about the ECG as she'd heard nothing. The nurse checked the computer and told her that a referral letter had gone to Ipswich hospital cardiology department that day. Clever Bird wasn't amused that a whole week had gone by and a letter only been sent now as the ECG is urgent. But there was nothing to be done about it so she went home. The car journey home was so much less painful that the one there. An hour or so after getting home there was a phone call arranging for Baggy to go back to the Doctors in two days to have the ECG fitted. Hmmmmm! Then Clever Bird realised that the "urgent" referral was probably "delayed" slightly because they should really have the ECG results before deciding whether Baggy needs to see the heart specialists, but as Baggy has already had two Doctors confirm that she does have heart arrhythmia they've referred her before seeing the results. Clever Bird can't quite decide whether she is pleased or not that she's now going to suss out yet another part of Ipswich hospital................
P.S. Baggy cannot begin to explain how lovely it is not to have her knickers hooked onto a staple!
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