Hi Everyone,
I had a really bad seroma which turned into an abscess in the axilla where I’d had the SNB which turned into septicemia…
Following emergency surgery a week ago (I posted about the trauma of that previously) I was left with a deep wound which is now being packed (yuck) and dressed daily by the district nurse. I asked her today how long it will take to heal and she said it depends on how quickly you heal as its a deep wound…4cm across and 10 cm deep (can that be right?!) She said maybe a few weeks…
Hearing that has left me feeling worried - I find the whole wound thing pretty gruesome, painful and inconvenient - and I have now been in bed for more than 3 weeks since initial surgery and of course I have more treatment to come. This all feels like such a set back on top of getting BC in the first place!
Have others had a similarly deep wounds that required daily packing/dressing? How long did all go on for/ take to heal? Any tips on things I can do to promote healing?
Thanks…
Jacqui
Hello Jacqui,
So sorry to hear how rough you’re having it just now! I don’t have any experience of having had wound packing, but as regards wound healing, I would think that eating a healthy, high protein diet would help - n I bet you don’t feel much like preparing and cooking food just now, so I hope you have people around to care and pamper you!
Also, anything that’ll reduce the risk of further infection to the area - be careful around the cat litter tray if you have a cat, and then things like cut flowers in vases, as if the water isnt changed regularly (another thing that you probably are too yukky-feeling to want to do just now)then there’s a risk of a particular infection from dirty flower water. That’s why some hospital wards won’t let visitors bring flowers nowadays.
Take care of yourself Jaqui - we’re all thinking about you, so please let us know how you go on, and I’m sure there’l be others along soon, to give you more specific advice about deep wounds.
With much love!
Shelley xxx
I am lucky in that I cant asnwer you on this but thought I would share the experiance of the lad i work with who is 20… had an op on the top of his bottom!!! he too had a deep wound that wouldnt heal. I am trying to make you feel abit better here as he wasnt able to sit down… he either had to stand or lie on his left side for weeks. Hes all fixed now . Good luck x
Hi Jacqui
Im so sorry to hear you are having such an awful time. I have no advice but i think shelley has given some great tips of avoiding infection (i didnt know that about flowers) Hopefully others with similar experiences may be along to offer more help.
Huge gentle (((hug)) jacqui, i really hope you heal quickly xx
Hi Jacqui
I have <spoken to=“” you=“” before=“” because=“” i=“” too=“” had=“” a=“” severely=“” infected=“” seroma=“” that=“” needed=“” emergency=“” surgery. p=“”>
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My wound was never measured as far as I know but it was very deep.
It had to be packed and dressed, initially every day then every other day. Because of problems with our local district nurses my husband and I approached our practice nurse who show OH how to do it. The Gp provided all the gubbins necessary and OH did the necessary with the nurse checking it on a weekly basis. Although it was really stressful that it took so long to heal(10 months in total) being under our control made it fractionally easier.
Along the way it did become infected which partly accounted for the amount of time it took. The infection was pseodonomas(that spelling could be wrong) which can be found in water i.e. fish tanks and flower vases, although in our opinion it was initially caught via the ditrict nurse set up who refused to follow the hospital care plan I was given.
It will heal - they kept telling me that and I doubted them, and even tried to come to terms with it always being there in a minor way, but it did heal and now a year down the line all I have to show for the extra trauma is an extra scar which only OH and I can see.
pm me if you need to rant at someone who really has been there done that and got the tee shirt.
Andie
Hi Jaqui
I had a horribly infected seroma, which eventually forced my implant to be removed.I havnt had to pack the wound, and that must be awful for you. but I do know how you feel about having treatment delayed and hating the fact that you have to cope with this on top of bc. My chemo has been delayed by 2 months because of the infections and serums.
Don’t know about you, but I also worried about how my husband was coping with having to be my nurse and see things that really you’d rather your husband didn’t have to see, like fluid pouring out of an already disfigured Breast! So far mine seems to be coping fine, and yours seems to be too. I count myself lucky on that score.
I have no tips for avoiding infection or the healing, other than the obvious, healthy eating, lie down a lot kind of thing. i ve had wounds packed elsewhere on my body and they actually healed amazingly quickly, the body is truly remarkable. But you have my deepest sympathy and I hope that you heal quickly.
Alison
Xx
Hi Jacqui
As I said on your other post I too had a wound that needed packing and dressing. I was off work for 3 months and the district nurses came out every day ( gave me xmas day off) then when I went back to work I had to go to the GP surgery Mon-Fri with the nurses coming at the weekend. I thought it would never end and they kept on saying - to cheer me up I suppose - not long to go now! It was over 6 months in the end.
I got half a dozen infections in that time but put it down to so many different people dabbling in it, plus I suppose there are various germs flying about in a doctor’s surgery.
Love Laine
Hi
I had a WLE which healed beautifully but they had to go back to get clear margins. Initially, it healed but then a huge seroma formed and ruptured the scar. I too had a very deep and wide open wound (about 10cm deep)which completely freaked me out. I went to the local hospital as this happened at the weekend and they packed the wound - weird feeling. Anyway, I was able to see my breast surgeon a few days later and she recommended not packing it - it wasn’t infected, it was oozing but the liquid was clear. My wound was on my right breast to the side. Anyway, I was given special dressings to put on and shown what to do and literally just put mepilex dressings on every morning or changed them when they leaked. My wound opened in the middle of October 2010 and it finally closed in January. I measured progress by the fact that the dressings kept getting smaller. The wound care nurses at my local hospital were very skeptical about this approach but my BS insisted and it has healed beautifully. A little indent but nothing significant. Hope this helps.
I am nearly a year down the line since my mastectomy wound opened after seroma ruptured. The doctor told me days before when I told him that I was worried about the seroma that it would absorb. My mastectomy scar was reopened to clear it out of junk 18 months after original mastectomy and glued and this seemed to be the problem. I had it packed and dressed for nearly 5 months with no significant improvement but no infection. Finally in May I was referred to a Plastic surgeon who tried everything, honey, collagen then it was debrided and I was on the Vac machine.These all improved it a little. Finally this week the Plastic surgeon told me I will have to have LD flap surgery to solve the problem as there is now no blood supply to the wound. This will be done in the next couple of weeks and I am frightened to death of 4 hours of surgery and can`t believe its come to this. I do wish now that I had shouted a bit louder about different treatment when after a few months of packing and dressings there was no healing. Just to add to this, after having no infection for months I contacted MRSA after debridement surgery in June. The only advice I can give is, if it is not healing to your satisfaction ask to see another Dr.
Pam