So yeah, it’s June and I just realized now that I forgot to post this several weeks ago. Oops! Sorry for the lack of updates. Next one will be long and bring you up to date.
In week two, I’d made some bigly progress. My walks had lengthened from up and down the block to to a mile each day. But, the itching had gotten SO much WORSE and I started to see bumps like contact dermatitis. When I went in for my two-week follow up on Wednesday, doc determined I was having a reaction to the Dermabond Prineo (the glue/mesh wound closure system he’d used). So, he and Sophie each grabbed an end near my hips, and pulled it off. Another week of it being on would have been ideal, but for the most part, I was superficially closed. Notice I said for the most part? Yeah, there was one little issue. where the vertical and horizontal incisions meet, I had some wound separation.
It’s not that uncommon to have that happen in an incision like this because there’s often extra stress on that area pulling in multiple directions. The contact dermatitis probably didn’t help matters. Because I had no systemic indications of infection, he didn’t feel oral antibiotics were necessary (yay!) and instead prescribed Mupriocin (an antibiotic ointment) and keeping the wound covered with gauze.
Me being me, kept inspecting the area daily. It seemed to be getting worse, not better, so I went back in to see him on the weekend. That whole area was swollen, firm, and super tender, and there was some serious gunk in there. Dr. Geldner trimed some of it out of there to get a better look. I asked what the black thing was. He said, “It’s grrr.” Not familiar with that, I asked, “What’s grrr?” He replied, “Stuff.” Um. Ok. “So, schmutz,” I said. He concurred and said “Such a great word, schmutz.”
After getting a better look, he said it was ok and that it’s not unusual for it to appear worse before it gets better. In other words, he was not worried and I was to stay the course with the Mupriocin. Because I had quite a bit of drainage, he surmised that perhaps I had some fluid collection that was using the opening to find its way out, but it will eventually close on its own. Eventually – so vague. How lovely.