Stoma wound packed not stabled? Pain!

The stoma wound is not considered clean. That is why it is pretty normal to be left open to heal on its own. I have had 2 closures and they were both done this way.

As far as pain goes, The stoma closure was by far the most painful part of my take down. It was pretty crazy how uncomfortable it is.

Stay on pain meds. Motrin 800's helped a ton with the pain for me as it was mostly muscular. If you start to notice any redness or warmth on the skin radiating away from the wound, get checked. Otherwise, what you are describing is the same i have had multiple times. Including right now.

Best to you

Derek

I was in a lot of pain after surgery.
The reason for the packing method is I think it heals faster.
Someone with more info on that will chime in I hope.
I would like to know too.
I had more or less an emergency take down cause I had a blockage so after three weeks they had me wide open looking for the blockage and in the meantime took it all down.
Now all my incisions were not stitched or stapled...it was left open and covered and I was put on a wound machine for about a month. Had to change out bandages every thre days and they had to dope me up cause it was sooo painful to pull the sticky film they put over the whole area. Healing up was the most painful experience I have ever had in my life
But it is done now and if I can get my pouch working correctly it will have been worth it.



P S.....They not only left my stoma open but i had two 6-7 inch incisions they left open to heal.

I have had my stoma moved times in 10yrs and all 4xs they left it open (packed with gauze) to close. They do not like to close deep stoma wounds but allow them to close naturally. They were open for a while, unlike a cut, and so they weep, seep, fill with fluids etc...allowing them to close this way sort of helps them to Not form infections and or build up fluids under the scar or create an abscess. (corret me if I am wrong Jan..)
Yes, they hurt.
My old stoma sites (3) are still 'tender' to the touch and I don't like anyone touching them...it is like all of the nerves come up there. (they are also really, really ticklish...Don't ask why, I have no idea but it is very funny when my doctor tires to palpate my abdomne and I scream in laughter!)
As it heals the pain deminishes and you will hardly notice it after a while. Give it a week, watch out for infections, pus or a nasty smell, fevers or chills...they can all be signs of infection...other than that just keep the packing clean.
Hope that this helps
ps. You might want to bring the edges together slowly as it heals by using 1 or 2 steri strips at a time so that the scar ends up a little prettier.
Sharon

My stoma site was loosely sutured closed and healed very nice. I just don't get why some surgeons leave it open to heal. (Yes I understand because it's not considered clean) but then why do so many surgeons do the opposite and close the site? I have spoken to others too that had theirs sutured too with no problems.

Mine was closed and healed just fine.

Mine was also cleanly sutured closed,and healed well.The pain in the stoma area, was similar to the muscle pain when you do too many sit ups,and it hurts the next day.

Well I just found out that my surgeon reopened my vertical incision about an inch and a half because he thought it was infected. So now I have two open wounds, with the stoma wound being about twice as small as the other. But my jpouch seems to be functioning very well already so thats a plus.