Tell her we'll be off, just the two of us, the moment the stitches are out.

Fold Saddle Stitch

What else did Dr Calaway say?

The stitches are out.

Soon they'll take out your stitches and I'll have lost you forever.

It's me. You know that woman who got stitches on her arm that night? Can you write me a receipt?

And it turns out they are medical students on their way to a lecture about the latest suturing techniques, and he's the guy giving the lecture.

In this case vascular couplers were used for the vessels as the Chinese did not have good micro sutures available at that time.