Oh, the Itching!
Yes, everything itches. The incision area itches. The incision itself has no external stitches, just surgi-strips. (Yes, my guts seem to be taped closed.) And of course they shaved a good part of my pubic area too.
And it all itches. The trouble with stubble down there is that once it gets to a certain length, it pokes through my underwear, so that when I move around, it kind of wiggles the little hairs and just bugs the bejeezers out of me. Of course I can't scratch, but boy do I want to! And of course I can't put anything on it, because the doc specifically said I couldn't. I can't even wash the area of the incision! When I take a shower every morning, I tape a piece of plastic over it and when I'm done I blow dry the area (no touching!).
Some of the tape is coming up. Not at the edges like I thought it would. Actually, there's a ridge or bubble along one side of the little strips of tape. I'm guessing that's because the area was swollen when the put the tape on, and not that it's not, it's not making contact.
I've been taking photos every day, just as a record for how it heals. I haven't looked at them yet, but I might do that later today and perhaps post them for those of you interested in gory details tomorrow. (Actually, it's sadly not gory at all. I expected it to be shocking, but it's really not.)
Other than a bit of pulling and pinching in my abdomen, I'm feeling pretty good. My energy level is better. I feel like I can do more things, though I don't of course. I feel like I could sort the laundry or do a few dishes, but I'm going to wait another couple of days for that. I went out in the back yard yesterday for a while. I've got a great Adirondack chair to sit in, which is the ideal angle for keeping pressure off my belly, but the yard is down a flight of stairs and the patio is a hundred fifty feet from the back door, so I was pretty tired after coming back up. Funny how that works.
Posted by Elizabeth M. on August 14, 2004 09:22 AM
