Bursar? Collection of fluid being drained from under the incision line

Hi Ladies, I had my abdominal hyst on 13 August 09 (6 weeks ago) and was doing very well in my recovery. The external incision site had healed in 2 weeks but was advised to continue to tape the area for support as the cut was 25cm long to allow good access to my bladder & bowel.... then 2 weeks ago I checked the dressing in the morning as per usual and immediately saw that the dressing was flooding in bloody, yellow & smelly discharge.
I immediately went to my GP and they said it was a bursar under the skin which was about 6cm deep and that we needed to drain it daily. The Dr also took a swab to check for infection (which came back negative) Phew! I had daily dressings which consist of having a fabric wick put into the bursar and then a dressing on top.
Then 7 days later it started to smell again and discharge more, so I pointed it out to the Dr and he took another swab and immediately gave me a prescription to antibotics. Have since continued with the daily dressings and found out that again the swab came back negative for infection. The nurse said the bursar is still 2cm deep but is getting better.
I would love to chat to anyone whom might have had a similar experience, as my gynecologist is on leave and I suppose would like to know that I'm not alone.
Many thanks in advance, Annie

I don't know if what I have is the same. But I have a reconstructed belly button that has had smelly discharge since my surgery in July. My surgeon isn't concerned, it's getting much better, but I do a dressing chang two times a day. I was told mine wasn't from an infection but it is drainage from the surgery. I can't wait til it stops, it'll be one less thing I have to take care of. But it is almost gone and healing well.

Thanks for replying, i'm sure its just the inconvenience of the dressings that's starting to frustrate me. And the fact that my gyn is on holidays. I hope that you are recovering well and continue to look after yourself. Kind regards.

Anne: I am sorry for what you are going through because I am going through the same thing. I had a tah/bso on Sept 14, 09. They went through my old c-section scar. My Dr. was out of town and schedule the removal of my staples on Sept 28 which would be 14 days after. I did everything I was supposed too. On Tuesday Sept 21 I noticed a smell and some seeping on the peri pad that I had across my incision. I called ob and was told my Dr. was out and that the nurse practitioner would see me. She looked at my incision and called in a doctor. She said I was okay and the stitches could come out if I wanted. I said I would wait for my dr. . On Thursday when I wiped I saw blood on the tissue paper. I lifted my belly and blood flowed. Needless to say I was crying and scared. I go to ob and I see another doctor who is a surgeon. He said that my staples needed to be removed. After they cleaned me up, they noticed that I had two openings that aren't healing. They patched me up and sent to to Wound Care. The docotr there said that I had a reaction to the staples. There they numbed the area and instead of two open areas I have one that in 11 cm long an 3 cm deep. They took a sample and pictures and cleaned it up. My instructions were to take a gram of vit C daily, take cipro antibiotic twice daily for ten days and to clean the wound with saline and shoot it with some iodine ointment and the cover it with a pad daily. I have to also use a hyerberic chamber everyday for 2 hours for 20 visits. I see my doctor on Monday and see what he says. My husband has been taking care of my wound but I think it bothered him today because I am getting feeling back and it hurt when he cleaned and dressed it. It felt raw. I was trying not to cry. Research said that because I am over weight that they should of opened me up in the belly area instead of where they did because my belly hangs over the area a little. I am not as young as I was and weighed a lot less.

I do not know if this helped you but you helped me by posting yours.

Oh Molly you have made me feel so very reassured. I totally understand the feeling coming back into that area - as that is where the nerves that were cut in surgery are healing (should be happy about the healing) but it burns like a hot poker everytime the nurse puts in a new wick (which is daily).
As for your weight and "not being as young as your were" fooey to that! I am sure that you are an absolute goddess to all the people in your life ) I TOO have a overhanging belly at 32 years old and childless (so no pregnancy belly to blame) - and understand that sometimes our own feelings about this make us wonder what if we were thinner???? I have had a long and unpleasant journey to get to this point which also contributed to my weight gain.
Anyway I will keep you posted on how I go when I see my gyn/ob on the 8 Oct, and thank you for sharing your story with me. You have certainly given me some other avenues of treatment to explore. I'm sure that patience is going to be the most prescribed of any!!!

I just want to say ladies, stop beating yourselves up over your weight. From what I have learned from my doctors it is better to be overweight than underweight. It seems we can't win for losing. I am on the oposite end of the spectrum, I am grossly underweight from my treatments and surgeries. So, I catch hell, and I'm told to EAT MORE, well I count calories and I'm taking in at least 3,000 a day! I don't know what to tell the doctors. My weight dropped to 68 pounds but I am up to 107 and have a way to go to get to my healthy weight.

I just wanted to let you ladies know that it seems we get dinged either way we go. And it stinks. I wonder if men catch this crap.

I want to wish you both well and hope you get things straightened out and are on the road to recovery.

Daisy77
Thanks for the reply. I feel better now that I received your post and I am glad that I could help you. I am pretty good at coping with things but now that I have that opening, I feel that it will take longer for my recovery then what I had expected. Which is kind of depressing in itself.

I had my TAH on Sept. 14 and my staples were removed on Sept 21 and Steri strips were put on. I have noticed the last few days I am having a seeping coming through the one end of the ster strips. It looks kind of yellow. I'm worried that it might be infected. It feels OK and there isn't really any odor from it though. I think I will call my Dr in the morning and see if this is normal or not. Anyone else have this happen too?

I am 4.5 weeks post-op and yesterday discovered a large amount of brown discharge had oozed from my incision which had been totally closed up to now. Upon inspection I found a hole, larger than the tip of my pinky finger. I went to the ER today and they said I have a Seroma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seroma which sounds a lot like what you girls are talking about. It is over 3cm wide and "very deep" according to the doc. They say it will take over a month to heal. I have to pack it every day with sterile gauze and change it daily.

Does this sound similar to what you're dealing with?

TL CLAY: It does sound a little like what I have only my didn't heal.

I went to my doctor today and he told my DH that he did a very good job taking care of my open incision. I do not need to to all the extra stuff that the wound center said. All we need to do now is change the dressing twice a day. After I take a shower and then in the evening. No we need to pack it with gauze and tape across it. I go back Monday Oct 5 so he can check it again. He said that it should take 10 days. and that by the time I see on next Monday. It should be smaller.