MY SCAR

I have to admit I'm a bit vain. I was worried about having a scar on the front of my neck.

My surgeon went in through the front of my neck, pushed everything a side so he could get to the cervical spine and do his work.

This is a common approach for this surgery. If a surgeon goes in from the back of your neck he has to deal with your spinal cord. He generally cuts through the muscles in the back of your neck too.

Going in from the front prevents those challenges. No muscles were cut in my neck, they were pushed aside. Having a scar seemed like a better deal for me. I hate healing from surgeries.

This is my scar only a few weeks after surgery. It's much better now. A little make up and it's not that noticeable.

It was scary for me at first because my scar looked worse when I had the steri stripes on. They put stitches inside but used steri strips on the out side.

I had blood on my stripes so that freaked me out. I was really afraid to take the strips off. They wanted me to let them come off naturally but mine held on for dear life and I had to encourage them to come off.

I waited until they were on for a couple of months and then slowly and gently rolled the ends a little every day until they came off in the shower.

My mind played tricks on me. I thought the scar would open up and that would be BAD.

My neck was very numb around the incession for about 8 months. It's still slightly numb but I believe that will pass.

My scar is really a good thing. It reminds me that I have to be more careful about jumping around, lifting heavy things and such. I do not want a repeat surgery which can happen if you don't make the adjustments needed in your daily routine.

Lynn Hahn   www.getrealfit.org