UH OH!

Okay so Saturday I called my surgeon who happened to be on call and he calls back and we duke it out because I have a terrible rash growing on my wounds! redness, puffiness, itchiness, and its just gross to look at. He says try benedryl or go to the ER but he doesnt think its that serious. I try benedryl and nada..goes down a bit but then sunday I wake up and its all under every wound and is painful..sorta feels like its stretching the stitches. ugh. So today Im going to try calamine lotion and hydrocortizone cream. I DO NOT want to go to the ER because of a few reasons..I dont want to risk getting sick by others if in fact i am okay and 2 my co pay is 100 bucks and I am not working. If this doesnt work I think Im going to ask him to take a look. Is this reasonable or should I suck it up and ...go to the ER :/

signed

Sad Lee

Unfortunately, if the medicine is not clearing things up, then yes you should get the wounds/sutures checked out ASAP. You do not want to risk an infection by any means and make things worse. ER co-pays suck the big one! :( So sorry!! Also, if your wounds are getting pussie and start to have odor to them please get them looked at! Hang in there Lee

You also do not want to chance having Cellulitis which is an infection that can move rapidly and get into your blood stream.  Never take chances with redness, puffiness, etc. 

I had a surgery once on my breast that within a 2 days it spread from the size of a dime to all across my chest and up my neck and down toward my stomach.  Also the incision site became so swollen that it felt like a golf ball underneath.  I went to the surgeon's office and right there he cut a small incision on the stitch line and drained the site and had to pack it with an iodine soaked gauze strip that I had to remove the next day.

Not saying this to scare you or gross you out, but heed warnings about this kind of stuff.  Had I gone in to check it the first day and not waited a few days all of that may have been avoided and just treated with antibiotics.

UPDATE:

So, I did the benedryl and the cortizone cream but nothing was changing much and since I really didnt wanna go to the ER I called Dr Benedetto's office and a nurse practicioner said she'd see me. I met with her and good news (sorta) ..It was just an allergic reaction to the surgical tape thats been on the wounds since I got out of surgery. Woots! She scrubbed most of it off and then is seeing me next week to make sure its clearing itself off. My job: keep up with benedryl and shower as many times as possible (or just wash my stomach alot) to dry out the tape and my skin so it can heal.

Thanks for the advice in the posts. I was freaking out. Now Im good. xoxo

Liana <3

Hi Liana,

I feel so bad about your problem.  I would call and make an appt. with your surgeon. 

After all, he should be the one to look at it.  That is what the surgical team is there for.  If you can't get in to see him, see a nurse practitioner who is part of the team.

Keep us posted.

"Let's Make this Journey Together"

Donna

Thanks for the update, glad it wasn't anything overly serious.