We saw Dr. Penny, a doctor we have never seen before. He took a close look at it and said there was nothing he could do because of the glue. He said that we needed to go back to the ER at Scottish Rite because maybe they had a solvent such as acetone that they could use to remove the glue. He told us they'd refund our copay.
I called the hospital to make sure we should be going there and the person that answered said that we should be able to go to their urgent care facility. She said they were just as equipped as the ER for things like that and it would save us some money. I asked her to make sure they could handle it. She called them and they said that we did need to take him to the ER because of the glue.
When we got there, the nurse that checked us in said that she couldn't believe that the doctor sent us. She said that Neosporin or petroleum jelly will dissolve the glue. I started to get upset because I felt that the doctor should have known that. The copayment at the doctor is $25 and it's $100 at the ER. I almost said that I wanted to leave after she told us that, but figured that we were probably in the best place to have it done correctly, since no one else seemed to have a clue.
We saw Dr. Bachelor who first asked why we needed the stitches out that day. We told him that the plastic surgeon told us they needed to come out by day 7 or he would have dot scars from them. He told us that the stitches can take up to 10 days to dissolve and that it wouldn't increase the chance of the marks if they stayed in that long. He also said that he didn't like when some doctors put the glue over because it causes problems like this or can trap bacteria under the glue. He prefers to put a Steristrip over it, because it's easily removed.
He said he'd do what he could. He put some petroleum jelly on it and tried to get some of the glue off. He worked around the edges of the glue for a few minutes but pulled it up by the stitches. Max screamed so loud and high that I knew it was hurting him. Sure enough, he started to bleed a little. He stopped after that, saying there was really nothing else he could do, because the sutures had obviously not dissolved yet. He gave us instructions to apply the petroleum jelly 3-4 times a day to dissolve the glue and if the stitches don't come out by day 10, to take him back to the pediatrician to have them removed. They gave Max a popsicle after the whole ordeal which made him feel better. I hope it tasted really good because it cost us $100!
The whole thing frustrated me! I felt like the doctor at the pediatrician's office should have known what dissolved the Dermabond...especially since he called it by name. We shouldn't have had to go all the way to the ER just to pay $100 for them to tell us there was nothing they could do.
So now, we wait. We've been putting the salve on and it seems to be dissolving the glue, but I'm not sure the stitches will be ready to come out by Sunday, especially since he re-traumatized the area by pulling at the stitches before they were ready to come out. I'm scared that it may make a worse scar because he did that, too. All we can do is continue to pray for it to heal as well as it can, while we do our part. I think we all relived the trauma of last Thursday a little when we had to hold him down for the doctor to try to get the glue off. It's horrible to hear your baby screaming at the top of his little lungs because he's in pain. I hate it for him. I wish I could take it away, and I know Travis feels the same. Hopefully we'll have this all behind us very soon and we can move on. We just ask that you continue to pray for healing for our sweet baby Max. Thank you!
Here are some pictures from Thursday night, before we saw the doctor.. You can see that the glue is coming off and one of the stitches, with glue attached, is loose. One came out by itself, too. The rest are very tight and stuck in the glue.
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