Pics - incision & metal sutures (not cutesy pics)

I wanted to post some pictures just to give an idea of the size of the incision (without being too graphic - the area is not very pretty right now). Everyone (including me) has been surprised at the size of the incision. They remove the shoulder joint too so I guess that's part of the reason for the long incision. Also including some pics of metal sutures since I was totally shocked by their appearance.

This picture gives you an idea what the metal sutures look like. See the metal pieces sticking out? Each stitch has two metal ends sticking out. Oddly enough, they don't seem to bother him. They have scratched his neck some where they're rubbing when he curls up. He has about 6 inches (??) of these although the original incision was several inches longer.

He's standing on the "step" I made to help him on/off the couch. Apparently it seemed like a good place to eat :)

The 2 pics below give you an idea of how long the incision is. It goes from the top of his shoulder/back to up under where his leg used to be and down onto his chest. It's a lot longer than I had expected. The original incision is a few inches longer than the part that is now metal sutured (part of it had healed but most of it had to be reopened and metal sutured).


















Ignore the demon eyes :)

These are not flattering pictures at all but they give a good indication of the size of the incision and what the metal sutures are like.