If this doesn't make you feel like Frankenstein...

There's nothing like some good ol' metal staples in your head to make you feel like Frankenstein. I finally took a photo to share. Both sides of my head look virtually the same so I figured I just needed one picture. There are 7 staples on each side of my head. I'm guessing they used staples because it is in an area that doesn't have to be stitched nicely since it will be covered by hair because they used stitches on the incisions in my neck. I've never had staples before...I can only imagine how fun it will be to have them removed on Friday.

I was worried about them shaving off a bunch of my hair. Dumb, I know, but I'm attached to my hair, and with all the other scars I'm going to have, I didn't want to have half my head shaved too. Luckily my surgeon was pretty conservative when it came to shaving my head, as you can see. When I put my hair down (which I haven't done yet since surgery since they won't let me have a shower yet, grr), you probably won't even be able to see the shaved patch, unless you are looking for it. That's what I'm hoping anyway! Cute hair-dos like ponytails and braids and all that fun stuff will be out of the question for probably 6 months but c'est la vie.

Honestly, the whole thing looks worse than it is. When I look at pictures of people with hair shaved off and staples in their head, it freaks me out. This was one of the things that gave me massive anxiety before surgery. But it's really not bad. They don't hurt and I really can't even see them unless I look. So although it looks scary and gross and might make some people run away from the idea of an occipital nerve stimulator, I can tell you that it's not nearly as bad in reality as your imagination makes it out to be. I promise!

I haven't taken photos of the other incisions yet because they still have the steri-strips on them, which I am not allowed to take off until Friday, so taking a picture of them now would be pointless...you can't see anything. I'll take photos once I get all that junk off them. And if you're really lucky, I'll even let you see the awesome hematoma on my chest incision too.