• Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    12 days ago

    I needed to have “under the skin” stitches removed for a surgery that went across my throat from almost ear to ear. For whatever reason they did not use the type that dissolve but I was told that they would be removed after a few weeks. When they did, the process was to cut the knot and proceed to pull what seemed like a two foot long and thick hair out of me. It was like a magician pulling handkerchiefs from his hat. It just would not end and it felt awful.

    • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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      12 days ago

      Holy shit, new nightmare unlocked.

      I’ve had some horrific shit done to me for medical purposes. What got me through it was remembering two things. First of all, this is all to fix something else, it may get bad but it will get better. Second of all, pain is only temporary and exists only in my body/mind, it holds no power over me and it will pass.

      Hope you had have fixed whatever was wrong, that makes something like that worth it.

      Stitches that desolve are excellent. I hate the kind that needs to be monitored and removed manually. But I hate it even more when they use the staple kind, there is something just not right in using staples on a human being.

    • NoIWontPickAName@kbin.earth
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      11 days ago

      Heh, I had to have like 200 stitches removed from when I had my hand crushed and we got snowed in two appointments in a row so I just got scissors and tweezers and went to work.

      The best way was every other stitch you cut.

      Takes forever if you do them one at a time, but the draggy feeling just gets to be way too much if you go for three.

      Makes me shiver just thinking about 3.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        11 days ago

        The doctor that did my surgery specializes in neck and head cancer. Because cancer sucks enough, he likes to leave no visible scar. I do not know how he does it but the net result is a scar with two tiny knots at each end. To remove, they cut the knots at each end and pull on one side. It leaves a hair thin line of discoloration rather than your typical Frankenstein thick scar with staples or stitch lines.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        11 days ago

        So the surgery I was talking about was for an aggressive thyroid cancer that had spread. The bonus to the stitch removal was the two drain lines they had to pull from my neck. At least those were more of a dull tugging, but I could feel the line slide across my throat. Yuck.