Incision Opening

Hello Sisters! I haven't posted yet, but I am a big time lurker! My TAH, with uterus, ovaries and cervix removed(well, one flap of cervix still attached because it was fused to my bladder) was on May 7th. My staples were removed one week later. I didn't even make it home before my incision had ripped open in two places. We were doing the whole packing/unpacking thing for over a week, then they decided to restitch me, with open areas in case an infection developed. Anyone else have this experience?

My real question is that I have been smelling an unpleasant, but maybe not "foul" odor for the past few days, so I've become really worried about the whole infection thing. I don't have a fever, there does not appear to be any drainage, but I'm afraid that I am missing something. I have a home health nurse visit scheduled for tomorrow, but I swear, they barely look at it. My f/u to have these stitches removed is Wednesday. Honestly, I'm scared to death because I don't want to go through the whole splitting open thing again. They will have been in 9 days by then.

Any of you medical, or "experienced" people have advice for me? Should I try to talk them into leaving the stitches in longer? By the way, despite a really difficult surgery, I'm feeling SO much better on the inside than before the surgery. Just wish this darned thing hadn't happened.

Thanks so much!

Kris

(((Kris)))
Welcome to Hystersisters! I'm glad you decided to post. I didn't have an incision so I can't give you much help here. I would suggest that you be sure to let the nurse know that you are concerned about the odor and make sure they take a good look.

I hope someone who has experienced this will see you now and reply with some first hand experience. Let us know what you find out.
's, Rita

My Mother had a similar experience, she had a TAH many years ago, she still had her ovaries. She got a cyst on her ovaries and had cyst along with ovaries removed. The day she was coming home she got sick that morning and thought she felt a stich pull. Dr. checked her & said it looked ok. She had fever and her incision drained terribly, she used more pads on her incesion then she wore. She just felt horrible. When I took her to get her staples out she said the Dr. took them out then helped her up from the table & he zipped out of the room. She said her stomach just unzipped and all her insides started falling out & she was catching them. The Dr. explained that under the staples there was chain stitched stitches and when she got sick before leaving the hospital she did indeed break a stitch and the loop just continued to come unstitched!


mshowdy

Hi,
I had a huge vertical incision. About two inches opened when the staples came out. The DR cut out the dead tissue and pulled it together with steri strips and started me on antibiotics. There was some infection. After a few days the strips came off and the opening was about 1/2 inch wide. I used a product made of seaweed (yep). It was in sheets that look like fiberglass. It pulls the moisture/drainage out of the wound and makes it bond. I thought I would have an awful scar but it amazed me as to how it closed in two weeks and looks so much better. I'll get the name of the product if you would like it. It is by perscription. Annie
BC2003
UC2007

That would be great! I know that this scar is going to be scary! I've done some more research, and found that many people report a slight odor with their insicion healing, so I think that I'm ok. I definitely do not have a fever, and there is no drainage whatsoever. I go to the doc tomorrow, so I'm sure that she will answer my questions. If my home health nurse ever shows up today (grrrrrr), then I will definitely have her check it out!

Thanks ladies...you all are the greatest!

The dressing for my opening was SORBSAN

Seaweed has been used since the 1800s in the treatment of wounds. Sorbsan is an alginate dressing designed to absorb large amounts of exudate. Sorbsan is removed by irrigation without causing damage to newly forming tissue. Sorbsan is a relatively painless dressing to remove. It comes in sheets and you can cut them to fit over your incision. You wet them with sterile sodium cloride and cover with a dry dressing. It does wonders to heal a seeping incision.
Hugs
Annie