incision update

Well, it has been almost 48 hours since surgery and there is no sign of even any pinkness/redness let alone black tissue on my incision, so hopefully that means I won't have to deal with any necrosis (the black dead skin started appearing about 24 hours after my tunny tuck)!

Unfortunately, once I got a look at the WHOLE incision, I discovered that it is actually bigger than my other midline incisions... this one goes from the breastbone down to below my waist, all the way to my belly button (which is actually an inch lower that it ought to be because of the surgeon pulling it down when he did the panni removal).  I don't really care about the larger scar, but it means I cannot wear my pajamas (have to wear a nightshirt or gown) or any pants/shorts with the waist buttoned for a little while.  Now I wish I had saved a pair of pajama bottoms that were too big!

I'm very sore -- there is a big difference between the dilaudid and the vicodin! -- .  The vicodin script is only written for every 4-6 hours but even the liquid form (lortab) onyl lasts about 3 hours, so it is a good thing that I have some of the pre-surgery pills to take.

I am SO glad that I did not have to wait longer to get someone (either the other surgeon here or someone in Cleveland) to go in and fix this.  Based on what she found, and the fact that the pain attacks were getting much more frequent, they said that eventually it might have turned into a bowel obstruction!

Ok. time to go back to sleep...

Lora

I'm so glad your out, healing well, avoided a bowel obstruction. Rest and hope you heal quickly. Thanks for the update.

 So glad to hear from you and you are doing well.  I guess this will be a long recovery, but if it has fixed the problem, well worth it!  Keep us posted and my thoughts and prayers are with you!

So glad that you are fixed and on the way to feeling better. I'll be praying you have a speedy recovery.

BTW...heck yes there's a difference between dilaudid and vicodin! LOL! Dilaudid is 12X the strength of morphine!

I'm glad it went well.. Liquid vicodan does not do the same thing for me as pill form... it makes me very hyper.... and I take half the recommended dose twice as often (same amount just spread it out over the same period of time)

 Glad you are doing good. 

I'm so glad they finally found the source of your pain and were able to fix it.  I wish you a speedy recovery with only smooth sailing.

I'm so glad you finally got the surgery you needed.  Maybe I just hold a grudge (OK, I know I do), but I hope she felt bad about letting the problem go on so long.  I'd be tempted to send a nice note to the other surgery that first said he'd do surgery and then changed his mind to let him know what was found, too.

But I'm glad it's taken care of and I'm sure you're in pain right now but at least you know this pain will pass soon and then you don't have to worry about missing work and going to the ER and trying to get someone to help you all the time.  I'll be thinking of you and wishing you a smooth and quick recovery.

Yes, I definitely plan to send a note to the surgeon who backed out of the surgery when the CT (again) showed nothing.  I will also be sure to point out that I was told that if it continued untreated (apparently even the small movement of the intestine, straining against the adhesion, was enough to keep the scar tissue growing), I would have ended up with a bowel obstruction.

Yes, after close to 18 months of these episodes (and having them every couple of weeks lately), it will be nice to be back to normal once I heal up!

Lora

It's really scary that they let that go on so long.  I know that surgeon may not care, but I hope he feels really bad.  He should feel bad.