Underneath the $40 Bandage

Popeye came home from surgery with his stumps bandaged. Not because the stumps really needed bandaging, but to prevent Popeye from licking the incision staples. Ever imagine how hard it is to bandage a stump? It's like trying to keep a bandaid around the tip of your finger. In other words, very difficult. So difficult in fact that one of the surgeons I had consulted said it would require bandaging his entire lower body to keep it from falling off.

You can kind of see how the bandaging was done here:


A pretty tidy job actually. They used adhesive bandage and wrapped it around one stump, then flapped over the tip of the stump, over his hips and onto the other side. They told me it probably wouldn't stay on for the entire 2 weeks before I brought Popeye back for a recheck, but that that was ok, since its primary purpose was just to prevent Popeye from licking his incision.

I hoped it would stay on for as long as possible. First of all, that is some expensive bandage and I wanted to squeeze every useful bit out of the sucker.



But also, being a big wussy wuss, I wasn't eager to see the incision wound, although I should be used to it now, having been through both Lauraand Bandit's surgeries. The thought of cuts and blood and staples in the skin gives me the heebie jeebies.

But, as the nurse predicted, the bandage has started to fall off. I'm surprised it lasted this long to be honest. And this is what it looks like underneath.



Actually seeing it isn't as bad as the thought of it. But still, heebie jeebie.