Christmas Day in the ER

Well it was not the best Christmas I have ever spent I can tell you that. Early Christmas morning the only thing to unwrap was my gauze to change it and not a pretty sight. I found a river of nastiness, so as I applied pressure hubby and I were off to the ER. On the way I called DR. S. He very calmly told me he was afraid something like this could happen because there had been such a small amount of drainage and that there would be a possiblity that they would have to open the incision. That I should not worry. He was pretty much right on all accounts except for the worry part. I was a mess. Fancy words aside what it all amounted to was a big time infection under the incision, which yes indeed needed to be opened up....ouch BIG TIME... pockets of infection drained....hours of lying in the ER. Now this incision can not be closed again. Healing will now happen from the inside and work its way out. AND will take up to 2 months time. Every day the packing that they pack into the wound will have to be pulled out and replaced. I returned to the ER this morning. We have a wound care center here that I will eventually start using after the holidays but right now I will continue to go to the ER. When I saw DR. S on Monday he put me on Antibiotics because he just didn't like the way the incision looked. He gave me a good jump on this infection. Who knows what kind of mess I would have had without that little precaution. Well anyway I am really down today. The ER Dr. told me that it will take awhile to get this taken care of but it will heal and then it will all be worth it. I hope so.

Sheri AZ

Oh Sheri, you poor thing!!  Ouch...what a nasty thing at any time, let alone Christmas.  I hope you recover very quickly

hugs, Ruth

I am so sorry that you are having problems. I know that that was not they way you had intended to spend your Christmas.  But with Dr Schlesinger's help, I know that you will be just fine. I am sorry that you hurt so badly, next year this will be just a memory (not much help now though, huh).  Did Dr S tell you what the indicator was that you may have a problem?  Take care Nita

Sorry to hear your going through this.  When I had my hysterectomy I ended up with a cellulitis infection and they had to reopen part of my incision and I had to go in every other day for them to drain and trim at it.  Was not a pleasant experience but they caught it early on like in your case which made the recovery a lot easier. 

I know this is easier to say  than to believe, But you will do great , the infection will get under control and heal up .. You will be able to get as good or better than the nurse's  when it comes to  repacking your wound.  just takes some patience...

Hang in there ... Next year will be better ...

I'm so sorry and I definitely feel your pain. I was in a car accident that crushed my pelvis. When the doctor removed the staples my back ended up splitting back open down to the plate they had put in. Everyday my mother would take the gauze out rinse it would saline  and then repack it. I was at home unable to walk and had to stay on a hospital air bed. The good thing is the packing and unpacking really didn't bother me especially since I couldn't see it. All of this might have been tmi sorry if it makes anyone uncomfortable.

You poor thing that must have been awful I will be getting a woundvac that I will carry with me all the time that will drain the wound and I will only have to go in once aweek to have it changed I am healing well it will just be slow but I REALLY have to push protein now more then ever to encourage new tissue growth and my own health I still feel good though and everything else ia great so far I am down 15 lbs since surgery date Dec 16