Stitches hanging from vagina?

I had my TAH and bladder sling procedure 5 weeks ago today and I know that during the sling procedure, dissolvable stitches were sewn in the vagina somewhere. I had a 2 week post op check and the resident said that the sutures were still in place and would dissolve, but now I have a long stitch that is sort of hanging out slightly at the edge of my vagina and is it irritating..! And stinky! I tried to give it a very gentle tug, but quickly decided that wasn't such a good idea. When is this thing going to come out? I have had some intermittent discharge over the last week and 1/2, but the doctor said it is NOT infected. I'm on an antibiotic right now anyway due to a bladder infection and basically that area is just a mess. My 6 week post op is acutally not going to be until about the 8 week mark due to the Holiday schedule - has anyone else had those stitches hanging? How long did they take to get out of there? They smell really foul and I'm afraid clients will be able to smell me when I go back to work today.

Have you had an opportunity to call your doctor? It is likely your doctor could clip the stitch for you. Sometimes a piece of a dissolvable stitch can be stubborn and not dissovle for quite awhile.

I agree that you should not tug on the stitch. The other end could be attatached to tissue that has not quite healed and pulling on the stitch could damage that tissue.

S