I had my follow-up appointment on Tuesday and the strips are off! The verdict? Things look good. There's still some blood around the ICD causing some swelling, but it's not red or painful so it should be absorbed, making the area smaller soon.
As far as scars go, I don't know what I was thinking when I was writing about how I hope my ICD scar isn't keloid, because um, it's really keloid.
How did I think it was going to completely clear up? I know they said that they were going to try to clean it up, but I was thinking some miraculous transformation. Not quite. It's ugly. And I hate to be a complete hypocrite, but I'm a little upset with how unattractive it looks. I know it's still healing and that it's going to get better, but right now, it looks pretty bad. My lead scar, on the other hand, looks like it might eventually fade into nothing. Man, it would suck so bad if that one got keloid. My need to be symmetrical is not so great that I want my scars to be identical. The lead scar is so tiny and clean that compared to the other side, it looks like nothing already.
I'm using another word that I should probably define:
Keloid- when a scar is UGLY
I'm kidding. That's not the real definition. Here it is:
Keloid- an area of irregular fibrous tissue at the site of a scar or injury
The green is also clearing up nicely and I'm able to move my arms a lot more. Not above shoulders, because I can't do that for three more weeks (so the lead and ICD and settle), but I'm doing a lot more movement that involves my pectoral muscles, because they're healing, too.
I feel almost back to normal. If you can call it that.
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. ~ Kahlil Gibran
ReplyDeleteBUT - if you want to minimize the keloid, cortisone injections really work to soften and flatten the scar. I have had to have scars treated in several different areas and have loved the results. Certainly something to talk to your Dr. about. I even had Colin's ear lobe treated when he healed with a kind of lumpy scar from a tear caused by one of our cats.