Wound Appearance

Hi, I had an open, very infected abdominal wound with my surgery in October. They had to open it up, and it was very large (4.5cm wide, 17cm long and 2-3cm deep).

My surgeon is of the school of surgeons who does not believe in antibiotics for wound healing. So, I had a long road ahead of me, and a nurse came daily to pack it and dress it for me.

The best thing I could do for it was to shower daily, as painful as it was. Letting shampoo and soap wash over the wound and I made sure to thoroughly rinse myself, letting the water hit the top of my chest and run over the wound for about 5 minutes in the least.

I also took oil of oregano every morning, and I think that helped quite a bit.

Wound healing requires lots of patience, and make sure you are eating lots of protein, drinking lots of water, keeping yourself warm (if your body is too cold your calories will be spend on warming up your body as opposed to wound healing), sleeping well and trying as best you can to not worry about it.

I know I know, easy to say, hard to do. My surgeon told me (at the halfway point of my incision healing) to stop worrying about it. That it would eventually heal but if I kept worrying about it, it would set me back. She told me to let her do the worrying and for me to drink eggnog (this was in December).

I hope all goes well, if you need someone to take a look at it do you have a WOCN? They are great resources

Short and simple.
I had open wounds also but was attached to a wound pump that
sucked all the liquid out.
worked like a charm.
Showering with an open wound....ouch...and ouch again.
I had to keep mine totally covered.
I am surprised they let you do that.
Richard.

Mine was also open "dirty" style. It had a little bit of oozy stuff but not a whole lot. I rinsed it twice a day with saline when I re-packed it. My surgeon said to avoid getting soap in it while showering since it could irritate the wound, so I would let plain water run down my abdomen for a while after I was finished since inevitably you can't keep ALL the shampoo and soap coming from above out of a wound near your waist.

Does the skin around the wound look red and inflamed? That might be a warning sign...

Sounds like we've all had a little different experience - definitely worth getting a call into your doctor or contacting your WOCN if you have one.

Yellow, gooey pus is not supposed to be in a healing wound. You should expect drainage, but more on the clear, pink/straw colored type stuff.

Call your surgeon's office and someone on his staff can advise you. If there is also any swelling or redness around the wound, or any fever, be sure to report that too.

Jan