Suture Removal

In keeping with not working full weeks I took Thursday off to go and get my sutures removed and temporary cast replaced with a complete one. My appointment was only at 1pm so Sharon and I took the opportunity to go to SARS and sort out her income tax. It also gave me a chance to buy the plaster and mug for Nick’s bulls on the weekend.

When we got to the hospital at 1pm I was sent to the nurses in the emergency room to remove the sutures. She started by ripping off the temporary cast, which wasn’t as easy or pleasant as I had hoped. Clearly all of my leg hairs had ingrained themselves in the cast, and proceeded to be ripped out with it. Once it was off my foot felt strangely ghost like, and I had the distinct impression that I wouldn’t be able to move it if I tried.

I’d brought Sharon with as my official photographer. She stood next to the nurse, camera in hand, ready to take a shot of the injury. I think it took her a bit by surprise and she looked a bit woosey when the injury was uncovered. However after that she seemed fine as the stitches were removed.

The nurse then got down to the real fun bit of pulling out the stitches. I had around 15, and I figured she’d cut them out one at a time. WRONG! The 15 sutures were in fact done with one long piece of cotton. The nurse cut the knot off at the top, proceeded to tell me that this might feel strange, and then started pulling at the bottom. WTF?! Was she kidding? After nothing happened other than the bunching up of my leg and pain, she decided that they’d maybe done them a bit tight and that she would have to cut them out piece by piece. Although this wasn’t nearly as painful, it wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Half an hour later the cast was off and the sutures removed, so Dr Bremer was called to put on the new cast. The re-casting took all of about 5 minutes. He pulled a “sock” over my leg and then wrapped it in cotton wool…1 minute. He then dipped a roll of the cast in water, picked up my leg and wrapped it…1 minute. The two ends of the sock were then rolled back over the cast…30 seconds. A second roll of cast was dipped in water and wrapped around my leg…1 minute. He then put my leg down. I asked how long I needed to wait for it to dry and he told me it had already. Respect!