Wound leaking after revision surgery....

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groucho2
groucho2 Member Posts: 51
edited March 2017 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

I had my scar revision surgery Friday morning. All went well, and I was home, snoozing on my couch by 10:00am. The day went by quickly, snoozing and watching TV. About 8:30pm, I was jolted awake by the feel of wetness down my side. I was horrified to see blood (or what looked like blood) staining the side of my shirt - and the back of the couch. I checked my incision (it goes from my breast bone to under my arm), and noticed red droplets on my skin around a small, inch long area. When I gingerly washed the area, watery red liquid spurted out.

I called the 1-800-dial a nurse number on my take home surgical center sheet. The RN suggested I hold pressure on my incision for about 10 minutes to see if that would stop the bleeding. I did and it seemed to help. Not much redness came out. I carefully taped a gauze bandage over my incision and went back to sleep, hoping I didn't bleed to death in my sleep.

I woke up Saturday morning with a soaked shirt and bandage. I checked the incision and it was still leaking. (It now appeared to be the type of fluid that collected in the drains after my mastectomy surgery). Red tinged watery stuff. At least I knew I wasn't bleeding to death.

I immediately went to a minor emergency center, where they told me I had to go to the ER. I went to the ER. It was 1 pm in the afternoon. As I suspected, the ER was busy and filled with people who had the flu and all other kinds of nasty stuff. I huddled in a corner, barely breathing and not touching anything until they called me into the back. I showed them my incision. They agreed it had come open in one small area. They let me stay in the back in my own isolated room. At least I was away from the infectious waiting room.

I was seen by a RN, then by a Nurse Practitioner, then by a doctor, then by a surgical resident. Then, they paged the person on call for my surgeon. And took blood. At 5 pm, I saw the resident on call for my surgeon. Then, they told me they were paging my surgeon. Yes, it took them 4 hours to work their way down the list and finally contact my surgeon. (She divides her practice between here and a city 2.5 hours away and she wasn't in town). I waited another 4 hours before another surgical resident came in and glued, steri-striped, bandaged and covered my entire incision. It looked like he did a good job. I left the ER for home 8.5 hours after I arrived.

Just before I went to bed last night, I looked at my bandaged side in the mirror. Was that red/pink I saw? Surely not.....

I woke up this morning and the side of my shirt was wet and so was my bed sheet. I checked, and my incision was still "leaking." I chose not go back to the ER today. I will be at the surgeon's office first thing Monday (tomorrow) morning. I removed last night's soaked dressing and peeled off the soaked steri-strips (they were barely hanging on). I put on a new dressing and fumed about stupid residents in ERs.

So, why am I writing? I'm just looking for someone to tell me I'm not stupid for waiting until tomorrow to seek more help; that I don't need to go back to the ER today and wait another 8.5 hours and hope someone will fix me up right this time.

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Comments

  • Luckynumber47
    Luckynumber47 Member Posts: 397
    edited March 2017

    My plastic surgeon told me that menstrual pads are excellent for absorbing any leakage. Just watch yourself for a fever or signs of lethargy. Those could be signs of a problem

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  • candles1
    candles1 Member Posts: 77
    edited March 2017

    Groucho- what a freaking nightmare. Sorry that I have no advice or solutions, but I wouldn't go back to the ER either. What can they do that they didn't already try to do?

    I'd be doing my very best to keep the area clean and dry. The pads suggestion above sounds good. Or, maybe send someone to the store for some sterile pads/gauze. Are you taking antibiotics? If not, load up on vitamin C?
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  • Alli
    Alli Member Posts: 119
    edited March 2017

    sounds like you needed a drain in after this surgery. I have always been one to develop seromas after surgery or drain removal too soon.

    I think you are smart to wait and see your BS and avoid the germ infested ER. Keep it as clean and dry as you can. I think the Vit C is a good idea too. Avoid aspirin and ibuprofen because of bleeding risk.

    Hope it clear up soon and things go well tomorrow.

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited March 2017

    I would do exactly what you're doing, waiting it out. It sounds like you have a lot of blood-tinged drainage, rather than frank red blood. As others have suggested, put some maxipads in there and see your BS in the morning.

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  • groucho2
    groucho2 Member Posts: 51
    edited March 2017

    I called my surgeon's office this morning. They had me come in to give me some gauze, skin sparing tape, etc. The RN told me that the wound has to stay open and do "secondary healing." It is too late to re-close it. It has to close and heal on its own.

    I will see my surgeon, as originally scheduled, on Thursday.

    This has been a very frustrating experience.

    I googled, "Secondary Closing", and discovered that it was probably too late to glue it shut on Saturday when I saw the incompetent surgical resident. What I read said that the wound needs to be closed within 6 hours. After that, it has to go through "secondary healing." I am stuck with applying bandages, etc. until it stops draining.

    The RN suggested I wear a bra and put the bandages in a bra. Small problem with that: I threw away all my bras about a week after my BMX last June. It's just tape and gauze for me now.

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  • mustlovepoodles
    mustlovepoodles Member Posts: 2,825
    edited March 2017

    Actually, sometimes small wounds can be closed past the "6 hour" rule, but many times they choose to allow the wound to heal from the inside out. I've had it done both ways, with mixed results. I had a terrible time healing from my BMX--I had massive wounds, due to tissue necrosis and a seroma. It's a pain in the butt to have to dress wounds for however long it takes to finish healing, but it will be okay.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited March 2017

    Groucho - I would suggest getting an inexpensive sports bra at Target or WalMart and using the menstrual pads as mentioned above. I used 'light day panty liners' for most of my surgeries.

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  • groucho2
    groucho2 Member Posts: 51
    edited March 2017

    Well, I tried the sports bra and it doesn't work. The leaky part of my incision is right in the middle of the arm hole. I'm going to try an Ace bandage wrapped around my chest to keep the bandages in place. In spite of using so called, "skin sensitive tape," the areas above and below my incision are red and very, very sore.

    BTW, since the section of the open incision is under my arm, I must have torn the incision open myself by reaching for something. (said sarcastically). I guess I must have done it while I was sleeping.....

    The good news: today's "leakiness" is much, much less than yesterday's. I think the wound is starting to close on its own. Yay!

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  • groucho2
    groucho2 Member Posts: 51
    edited March 2017

    Here's an update, in case anyone is interested.

    I discovered that I did not do anything wrong. I did nothing to cause the incision to open up. There was a build up of fluid after surgery that caused the incision to "blow out" at it's weakest spot. That's why I suddenly felt the wetness on my shirt; all that built up blood and fluid "blew out." It was not a gradual process at all.

    The surgical resident at the ER may have glued the incision shut. I know he tried, but the steri-strips, the glue, and the bandage, did not keep my incision from "blowing out" again. I just wish the medical professionals at the ER had been as good at educating me about my wound as they were about scaring me (like telling me the wound had to be closed, and that I might need to go back to the OR to have it closed again).

    I'm now more than two weeks past the surgery. Perhaps if my surgeon had put a drain in, I wouldn't have this problem. However, she told me that this amount of drainage is very unusual after a simple revision surgery. She put external stitches in to hold the incision shut at my request (although the inner stitches were doing just fine).

    I'm still changing my dressing on the wound at least three times a day. An ace bandage wrapped around my chest works to hold a bandage in place. It's just that if I don't change the bandage soon enough, I have to wash the ace bandage. I wear the ace bandage during the day and tape a thick bandage on at night.

    All but this one section of my incision has healed and looks so much better than before revision surgery. Someday, I will heal from this too!

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  • Luckynumber47
    Luckynumber47 Member Posts: 397
    edited March 2017

    Thanks for the update. I wondered how it worked out. Can't believe that after all this time you are still fighting it but at least it's getting better

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  • groucho2
    groucho2 Member Posts: 51
    edited March 2017

    I saw my surgeon today. She says everything looks good. She is puzzled that the incision hasn't healed yet. She left the stitches in place and will see me again in a month. Surely my incision will close by then and I'll be well on the way to healing.

    The rest of my incision is healing very nicely. My surgeon did a good job. I have a 'pretty' scar.

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