Asleep when they go in, Awake when they come out- Staple Removal.

At the 6 week mark, it was time for Jamie’s second follow up with Dr. Frerichs. As we were getting ready to leave Jamie said, “Bring me my hat….”  Sometimes, you just have to make light out of things… plus with Jamie at my mercy… I just have to pick a little..

The Factory Gulf Shores injury

Well. He didn’t want that hat. Go figure.

So, I got him a baseball cap and we were on our way. Movement was still VERY limited.  Again, Jamie got to ride in the cargo area of the suv, still unable to bend his legs at all with his legs in complete immobilizers.

We knew there was a potential for the staples to come out this time, and for that reason Jamie was very nervous.  Large scabs had formed around each metal piece.  Where the two sides of the incision met up, the skin bulged and twisted- leaving what we thought would be a horrible scar.

Jamie was still having a large lack of confidence in his healing, letting his mind really mess with him. (He still does to this day and we are at the 12 week mark now).  With every step were his fears of all of the intricate work that the surgeon had done on his tendons coming undone.  He had solid fears of his knees easily re-rupturing, his patella tendons giving way again.  With these fears, he was also terrified that his incision wouldn’t be fully healed when the staples were removed.  He was afraid if he wasn’t careful the incision would just split wide open.

We arrived at The orthopedic group’s office in Foley. I pulled up to the front door drop off area, parked, opened the back hatch of the truck and like clock work Jamie slowly inched himself to the edge of the truck.  I held each leg straight out slowly lowering them til they met the ground- then placed the walker in front of him.  He inched to the door making his way in while I parked the vehicle.

We were ushered back to the room upon arrival.  A mere 50 feet away.  The walk, without exaggeration, took close to ten minutes.  Nurses passing giving that “bless his heart,” look.  Inch by inch with Jamie placing the majority of his body weight atop that walker we made our way.  Like getting out of the truck, we moved in reverse lifting his body and rigid legs onto the examination table.  We were doing this move a lot (getting in and out of the bed and lift chair) making our moves more and more like clockwork every time.  He lay there wringing his hands together. I could tell he was trying so hard to be brave, but so utterly nervous on the inside.  I only remember seeing this look on his face one other time….

……. Last Father’s day I rented a tandem kayak for us to spend the day together in.  We paddled from the boat launch in Orange Beach (near tacky jack’s), over to the island where we splashed around a bit, then launched off again tooling down Ole River where we eventually stopped at The Florabama Yacht club for lunch.  After lunch we headed back to the island for a bit.  Arriving where the mouth of Ole River meets Bayou St. John (Just East of Bird and Robinson Island and just before Terry Cove) the boat traffic had become quite heavy.  We paddled between large vessels, our kayak violently teetering between each swell that was cast our way.  I glanced back at Jamie for reassurance…. at that point I realized, “Holy crap, Jamie is more scared than I am!”

…….That was the look he had that day awaiting the Doc to come in to assess his knees.

Dr. Frerichs came in.  Yep, they looked good enough to come out. All 51 of them. One at a time. Slowly.

img_7041 I was pretty sure we would need to have a fracture treated while we were there also. Jamie was crushing my hand and squeezing more tightly as they tugged at each one.

img_7040

Hiding his fear under there…

img_7039

Before they started removal.

img_7042  Jamie said some came out easily, and some felt like she was trying to get a fish hook out of his skin.

staple removal the factory trampoline injury in gulf shores

img_7046

img_7047

img_7048

bilateral patella tendon injury at the trampoline park in gulf shores the factory

All Out and taped up.  As soon as the scabs all healed, he would be able to have a real bath/shower.  Instead of just the “bird baths” he had been having for the last 6 week…  Lots to look forward to!

img_7050

img_7051

Surgical Staple removal The Factory Gulf Shores injury