I had surgery on 8 September 2022 - a mastectomy and immediate diep reconstruction which at the time seemed to go very well.
I now have a large scar from hip to hip where my diep flap was taken. Most of it has now healed fairly well, but I had complications that slowed the process down.
First I got an allergic reaction to the super glue and tape holding it all together so it went red and crusty. It took quite a while to get the right treatment for this as I had to send photos to the hospital and the GP as neither of them would examine me in person. I was told to take off all the surgical tape holding me together and take antihistamine tablets. These two things have helped the itch but afterwards I was not held together quite as well.
Shortly after, I was out shopping with my husband, he was now in charge of the trolley and I went down an escalator behind him when he and the trolley suddenly stopped. There was a big notice saying to push when you got off, but he didn’t push, so I went straight into the back of him. After that I found there was a two inch gaping part of my wound which hasn’t healed since.
I should add that I always did the shopping pre surgery so my husband had failed to learn the skills required for getting off conveyor belts with trolleys so please ensure your husbands are up to all the tasks you cover should this happen to you.
I went back to the plastic surgery nurses and was given some aquacel tape to zig zag into the wound and some gauze dressings. They ran out so i got more of them myself but the area still hasn’t healed. Can anyone suggest a way of speeding up the process other than doing nothing? I find it’s worse if I walk around but I can’t spend the rest of my life lying down. i have a scan next week as I need another operation after they found the sentinel lymph node in my breast had cancer cells in it so I would rather this wound was healed by the time of my next operation