Incision wound
Posted , 9 users are following.
Hi All- I am 5 weeks post op for a TLHR. So apparently, my body did not absorb some of the absorbable stitches and now I have an open deep wound (It's not too big, maybe half an inch. The nurse saw me today and cleaned and dressed it but said that this type of treatment only works 50% of the time to fix the problem and the other 50% they have to do surgery and re-stitch. This is gross. Now I'm going to have to have it cleaned and changed daily. Im wondering if any of you have had a complication like this. If so, how long 'til it closes properly. Mostly I'm afraid of this leading to a systemic infection. Yikes!
All feedback is most appreciated.
Thanks, Donna
1 like, 10 replies
Rocketman_SG6UK dlrfoto
Posted
I had leaking wound first time around, the staples just didn't hold the incision together. I had a district nurse (in UK here) come every day to change the dressing for a couple of weeks.
As long as the person doing it keeps everything sterile, you should be fine.
Best wishes
Graham
Rocketman_SG6UK
Posted
dlrfoto Rocketman_SG6UK
Posted
ptolemy dlrfoto
Posted
dlrfoto ptolemy
Posted
diannesk dlrfoto
Posted
I did have a complication but it ended up being ok. Took time but that didn't bother me as the outcome was good.
Part of my surgical wound (in groin area) didn't heal as quickly as the rest of the surgical area. I had to clean and change dressing (wet/dry system) daily. Fortunately my surgeon was amazing and had saw me once a week. At one point he decided to admit me to the hospital so he could close the wound surgically. After I spent night in hospital so he could do this in the morning, he came in early (just before a regular surgery), took a look and told me he would prefer to clean it out and redress it instead of his plan to close it again. Reason he changed his mind is he wasn't sure the problem would happen again due to location. I would then have to continue daily cleaning and changing wet/dry dressing. Fortunately change of plans and I was able to get a wound vac and have a nurse 3 times a week change that dressing. It sped up the healing time and all ended up being great. In the US I was able to get the wound vac covered by insurance because I was in the hospital when it was prescribed.
Never had any issue with infection as wound was cleaned often.
dlrfoto diannesk
Posted
Were you able to do the cleaning and dressing yourself? It sounds like you had an anterior approach. I guess it's good that you didn't have to have the surgery to repair. Were you on antibiotics? The nurse who saw me from HSS (hospital for special surgery) put in an order for VNS (visiting Nurse service) to have a home nurse to visit me to do the wound care since I can't do it myself (had posterior approach). I just get the feeling that it takes while to heal.
diannesk dlrfoto
Posted
I can understand not being able to do the dressing change with posterior since access can be difficult.
It does take time to heal. It never really hurt.
erin1956 dlrfoto
Posted
On my second thr, I had some seepage from the wound. I had to go back to the doc where they redressed it and have me strict instructions to lay low for about a week. It ended up healing fine. I had a hematoma on my first thr. Fluid accumulated from the internal incision and caused a large lump around the external incision. It did not leak. This was eventually absorbed back into my body and disappeared in a couple of weeks.
Its part of the healing process. Everything will be ok. Give it time and rest.
dlrfoto erin1956
Posted
Thanks for your post, Erin. I asked the nurse if I should limit my physical activity which I thought sounded like a good idea but she said it was not necessary. I'm hopeful it will get better without surgical intervention.