Question:
My wife had open surgery on 5-9, wound opened on 5-18, dr. keeps reopening it at 2 we

My wife had lap rny 5-8, emergency open surgery on 5-9 to fix nicked bowel, the open incission opened at 1 stitch on 5-18 and it just will not close, the skin layer is healing but dr. keeps reopening it at dr. visit because the lower layers are still open and draining. he has done this 3 times the last 2 removing stitches from the lower layers, my concerns are that he has not done any culture on the drainage to check for infection and my wife has been out of work going on 9 weeks now with no end in site (dr. reopened wound this afternoon) and my wifes job disability won't run forever, and one know of similar circumstances, has anyone gone back to work with a wound draining?    — Rich C. (posted on July 8, 2002)

July 8, 2002
I have no answers for you, i apologize. I just wanted to say that I will keep your wife in my prayers and hope her wound heals soon.
   — Lezlie Y.

July 8, 2002
Hi. I wouldn't necessarily worry about the surgeon not doing a wound culture. Diagnosing an infection in an open wound is more based on clinical presentation than on culture results. The reason is that an open wound will always be colonized with some type of bacteria. But the presence of bacteria in a wound dosen't always mean infection, especially if there is an absence of cardinal signs (redness, warmth, foul odor, fever and elevated serum WBC's.) What kind of wound care is the surgeon having her do? Is it being packed at least once a day? JK, RN
   — Joya K.

July 9, 2002
Hi Rich, I had a similar experience. My surgeon reopened my incision at the bottom by the belly button three times. It was yucky as you know. After the final opening, I finally started to heal. Once this began, it took about 2 weeks before I could manage to do normal activities though the hole was still being stuffed with gauze.After the 4th week, everything closed up. I never had an infection culture either, though my surgeon did cleanse the wound with an acid material to slow the draining. Yuck. I will keep you and your wife in my prayers. it will get better! If you are really worrying, call your surgeon! Tracey
   — Tracey L.