Question:
My wifes wound opened on 5-18, and still not closed?

My wife had lap rny on 5-8, and emergency open surgery on 5-9 to correct nicked bowel, on 5-18 the incision opened bout 1 to 2 inches wide and 6cm. deep, dr. order visiting nurse to pack and irriagate would daily, on wound was healing but at dr. visit on 6-14, (wound was down to under 1 cm. deep), dr. re opened it back to about 6 cms. because he said the skin level was healed but under the skin was nor, (wound was still draining at that time), last week at dr. visit he probed the would and removed one of the stitches from one of the under layers saying the foreign body may be dalaying the healing, my wife has had no infection from the sitesince this began and has had no fever, has anyone had a common occurance if so how long did it take to heal?    — Rich C. (posted on June 26, 2002)

June 26, 2002
Hi Rich, I just went through this myself. I am now 8 weeks out and totally healed. It was no fun, but it did get better. My incision had to be opened twice. After the final doctor opening, it took about 3 weeks to heal. I also had a lot of drainage and problems with tape burns due to the taping and retaping of the gauze. I found neosporin to be very helpful on the tape burns ( don't use on the incision opening though.) Good luck to your wife. It does get better, it is just a huge pain in the behind as I am sure you already know. Feel free to email me if I can offfer anymore help. t)[email protected] Tracey
   — Tracey L.

June 26, 2002
Hi, I had an abdominal surgery a few yrs back and had my incision split open due to a hematoma under the skin level. It took forever to heal. I had a "bandage" that stuck to either side of the incision but then laced up like a pair of shoes over the incision to hold in the packing. I had this for about 2 1/2 mos. The bandage sure helped my poor skin from getting all of those tape burns. Tell her to keep her chin up it will heal.
   — Deanna_K

June 26, 2002
With my rny incision, it took 4 mos to completely close. It would heal on top but then drain and reopen. It wasn't infected but just a nuisance. When it finally started to heal, inside, it closed up for good rather quickly. I had to insert a long qtip into the opening to keep the "tract" open and draining. Gradually the qtip would not go in as deep and finally not at all. Good luck and keep the incision clean and dry. By the way, I was constantly finding these bright blue tiny plastic sutures. Maybe that is what kept it from healing too. Until they all came out, it just wouldn't close up. They were all uniform in size and the brightest turquoise you can imagine. Hummmmm.....
   — Marilyn C.

June 26, 2002
Hi, This happened to me too. I had an infeection in one of my lap sites at 3 days post op. Dr had to open it again and the amount of gross pus etc. that came out was amazing. I had a nurse come to the house twice a day to pack it for me. the incision was 1.5 inches and 5cm deep. the pus stank and ran/gushed for over 10 days. well here i am at 5 weeks post op and it is finally cleared and closed. i do have a little furrow about 1/8 inch deep that i assume will fill in. It is a really hard time to get through psychologically. you want to feel better already, and it hurts! it pulls everytime you move, you feel scared, you feel bad you are burdening everyone, etc. give her lots of love...i know it helped me feel better and tell your wife it does get better, it will heel! Good luck,
   — robyn R.