19 down to 1, then 0

The staples have been removed. The staple remover which the hospital are supposed to provide, according to the GP, bends the centre of the staple, so that the piece that goes into the flesh is at 45 degrees. The staple is then eased out. The process is painless where the staples are straight. Most of mine were fine, and were extracted very easily. One or two were in at odd angles and were a little more tricky. One was very odd, and ended up getting cut in two, and removed half at a time. There were a couple of sharp intakes of breath while that was done, but it really wasn't too much of a problem.
So now I can shower - what a relief that is. Wash downs are OK, but nowhere near as good as a shower.
There is a fresh dressing over the wound, though that is not really necessary. None of the puncture wounds from the staples were bleeding.
There are some other holes, I assume they were access for the screw driver. One of these had what appeared to be a large scab growing out of it. I had covered it with a plaster to stop it caching on my clothes. When the plaster was removed, the scab came off too, now there is just a slight swelling - which needs to be watched.
So the expected trauma of Friday did not materialise.

Next is the assessment towards the end of next week.