Cellulitis in Lower Left Leg

Prior to having my VSG surgery I had two bouts with cellultis in my lower left leg.  My hope was that surgery would be the save all here and it would not return anymore.  Although I had lost a lot of weight in my legs and there was a lot of loose skin on May 7th the Cellulitis decided to show itself once again.  I was in the hospital for 8 days on IV antibiotics and finally got to come home yesterday.  They have a PICC line in my arm for home IV antibiotics for another 2 weeks or so, talk about a bummer.  Anyone else had anything similar happen to them? Although there can be a plus to everthing I guess, I am down 108 pounds now since surgery on January 10th, not to shabby for 4 months.

Hello, sorry I never heard of the problem, but looked it up:

 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cellulitis/DS00450

Wishing you a speedy and painless recovery, though!

Dave 

Hey Brandt, sorry to hear about the cellulitis, been there, done that.  I had several bouts myself prior to surgery, ended up in the hospital like you on IV, only a couple of days and orals thereafter.  I've lost 240 pounds in the last 13 months, at my goal, and havent had any problems with my legs.  They used to swell up alot and were very discolors, no swelling any more and the color has gotten much better.  I hope your problems cease as well.  Good luck to you. John

I too had a fight with cullultis before WLS, i was in the hospital for 8 days of IV antibiotics last summer, and finally had 15 lbs of infection removed from my right thigh in early december, My thigh kept getting bigger and bigger, the more I tried to loose, the bigger my mass on the thigh got. No re-occurrance yet. But look on the bright side, when you reach goal,  you shouldn't have to fight the insurance co. for a lower body lift, I they should do it just to prevent reoccurance of your cellutis.

Joe, When you say you had 15 lbs of infection removed, did they just drain it or how did that all happen.  I'm down about 60 lbs and my left leg is still often discolored, but not as much swelling and I was wondering if it can be removed? Al

It was a large mass, it was removed surgically,  and left with a nice 13" long incission from my knee to my butt. Along with two nice JP drains,  that were in for about 3weeks untill they fell out, the stiches stayed in for 4 weeks.

I had 2 episodes of cellulitis before my surgery, the last one being in Aug/06. Bad but tolerable. I resisted hospitalization, opting for bed rest and oral antibiotics for a week. Everything was fine for a looooooooooong time. Here i am down over 170 lbs since surgery 12/06 thinking everything is peachy. 2 weeks ago, I had another bout of it. Pretty bad one. Ended up on IV antibiotics and out of work again for 4 days. From what I understand, it is a result of Lymph system damage and something I may have to live with until my vascular surgeon gets my lympedema and lymphatic system damage under control.