dVH/RALH One incision looks funny to me...what does infection look like?

In never fails, as soon as I say how good I feel, I find something to worry about!

I was told to shower daily, pat dry incisions, etc. I have six small incisions on my tummy all closed with glue. The upper right one is my painful one, has been from day 1. But the upper left one has not given me a problem until the last hour of my life. It's VERY itchy, so I took a closer look, and the skin around the incision, but under the glue, is a very dark pink almost purple color and when I pressed slightly on it, my finger came away sticky with fluid that oozed from under the glue. None of the other incisions look like this one, they are all dried scab looking and dont itch.

I really don't even know what an infected incision would look or act like! The hospital didn't give specifics, just said to watch for fever or infection. What does an infected incision look like? Is any discharge normal? What about the color? Any ideas? I've had surgery before, but never a problem with my incisions.

Liz

I am pretty sure itching means healing. I would keep an eye on it, and if it oozes or has pus, or hurts alot or if you get a fever i would call doc. Maybe you can ask anyway, they could suggest a soothing topical ointment or something. I still dont know or care if the doc took my stuff vaginally or out of an incision but that same incision on me is the deepest cut. I have five incisions tho and they used steristrips. They may have stuck a tube in there to blow me up. Oh man I dont want to know. I hope it gets better soon!

You crack me up lol. I have six lap incisions and everything came out vaginally so I have the cuff too. My surgeon told me he used the belly button incision to put the "air" in.

And just to show you how fried my brain is, I mixed up my left and right sides. The left is the painful one, the right top incision is the itchy red one. Talk about brain fog!

I'm going to keep an eye on it and if it looks worse tomorrow I'll give them a call.

I am so glad I am not the only one with brain fog. I cant remember the names of people I know and see all the time and it is really embarassing. But I CAN remember the phone numbers of my grandparents (God rest their souls) and my two best friends from when they were kids the 1970s. Which I really need, NOT!

Infected wounds are usually hot, hard, very red and angry looking, and ooze yellow pus. What you are describing sounds more like purplish bruising which is to be expected, and itching which tends to indicate healing. The sticky fluid sounds like serum unless it is foul smelling or yellow/bloody. Keep an eye on it, and if you run a fever or have any other concerns, see the doc. This sounds pretty normal for this stage of healing. Try not to poke it any more though, you don't want to introduce infection with your fingertips

Thanks for the reassurance! My husband also said the itching is it healing. I promise not to poke at it anymore!

And yes, the brain fog is ridiculous! I keep forgetting to do things, the names of things, etc. it's kind of funny, yet annoying too :-/

Liz

What's really annoying is when talking to your boss and forgetting the topic of the convo WHILE still talking. Yea embarrassing : /

And itchy is healing. The drainage is normal too as long as you aren't stinky or gross LOL