Biting the bullet

The following photos were taken just 5 days after the previous ones, and you can see that not only has the swelling not gone down, but BB is looking decidedly the worse for wear. The skin is taut and shiny after nearly 4 weeks of being stretched by the hematoma, and there is an unpleasant pink/purple hue which is partly due to the lighting, but also indicates the build-up of old blood and possible early infection.

Something definitely needed to be done, so I was re-admitted to hospital for another general anaesthetic, 4 weeks to the day after the initial operation.
Having spent the previous 4 weeks in a state of discomfort, uncertainty and anxiety, I felt I was not in nearly such good shape for surgery as I had been the first time, so I was very relieved to learn that it would be a much shorter operation (about one hour rather than almost five). 

Still, it was very hard not to be depressed by the whole repeat experience, which wasn't helped by being given the wrong time to arrive at the hospital, and therefore having to wait 6 hours before being seen.