Recovery Update: Three Body Parts, Three Different Definitions of “Healing”

Another day, another round of “What exactly is my body doing now?”

The good news is that all three things I’ve been watching seem to be moving in the right direction. They just apparently have very different ideas about what the healing process should look like.

👁️ The Eye: Still Red, But No More Special Effects

The eye is still noticeably red and looks irritated, but the biggest news remains the best news: no dot. No bubble. No floaters. No eclipse. No horizon.

After everything I was seeing following the silicone oil removal, I’m perfectly happy with boring vision.

I’m continuing the eye drops and keeping an eye on the eye — yes, I said it.

💪 The Scraped Arm: Welcome to Crust City

The arm continues its transformation from open road rash into what looks like an archaeological excavation.

It is DRY. It is CRUSTY. It is SCABBED.

There’s also that whitish, flaky skin around the edges as everything dries out. At this point, I’m basically waiting for the scabs to decide they’ve overstayed their welcome and fall off on their own.

It may actually look more disgusting now than it did when it happened.

But underneath all that crustiness, it seems to be healing.

Do. Not. Pick. The. Scab.

I’m saying that mostly to myself.

🩸 And Then There's the Fistula Arm...

My fourth fistulagram was yesterday, and today the access site looks remarkably uneventful.

The little incision is there. There’s some bruising and discoloration around it, but compared with everything else going on with my body, this one is almost disappointingly boring.

The dissolvable stitch is doing its thing.

Still no Hello Kitty Band-Aid. 🎀

Apparently vascular surgery has excellent balloons but a terrible selection of designer wound care.

So today's scorecard:

Eye: still red, but the visual special effects are gone.
Scraped arm: crustier than ever, but healing.
Fistula arm: bruised, sore, stitched, and recovering.

None of it looks particularly glamorous.

But I'll take ugly and healing over pretty and getting worse any day.