Okay you all know about how my port was infected and I had to have it taken out and now I am packing the wound everyday. Well the gauze that I put over the wound after it is packed to cover it up / hide it. is GREEN it has a red ring around it and the middle is green. like a blue green. its actually a pretty color LOL Anyway my wound Dr. said green is good. but it just seems weird.... Heck I should post a picture. Anyway just seems weird.

Eeewwwwwww! I love the gross stuff. I just don't know what to think about the green...I'm certainly no medical professional, but I'm really sorry you two have/are going through this. ((((hugs))) ladies. And thanks for sharing the gross pics, I think they really are helpful.

Yeah mine is healing up a bit... I am not in much pain.

Here are my before and afters,

Trish after looking at this again this morning with clearer eyes (LOL) I just have to ask if the inside is healing slower than the outside. The tiny hole in the second picture looks great but the cavern that appears to be inside concerns me still. If the outside is healing faster then you could still have a pocket of infection deep inside.

How much packing are you using and how often are you packing this wound?

I second Penni's post Trish. Are they still having you pull out the old gauze and pack with new WET gauze a couple times per day? The whole purpose of leaving the whole open and not stitching it up after surgery is not to trap all the infection inside again and let it make it's way to the surface. There's just no way the new tissue would replace itself to the surface in just 3 days :think

Looks to me like it is starting to "seal" on the outside with still a huge hole on the inside.....Looks much different than mine did. My cavernous hole got less and less deep over many many weeks.....The original hole was 2 inches wide by two inches long by two inches deep. When I was stuffing my wound with wet guaze, I could literally put my two fingers into my abdomen down to the second knuckle on my fingers!

I had to gradually cut a shorter and shorter piece of gauze to stuff down in there, as the new tissue grew...it would no longer fit as deep. Then by the last week, I was only putting a small, grape size piece of gauze down in there before the new tissue eventually grew inward to the surface and there was no longer any cavern

Not meaning to patronize or criticize at all....just posting out of concerns. Keep your chin up :nervous

Love, Robyn

wow i thought i would have been able to handle those pics.

i was wrong. LOL

I don't like the looks of that at all...

Dr. C

Thanks for the pictures - it IS a little gross and a even a little MORE scary, but I think its good to be able to see what can happen, so if it does, it won't be so frightening. Thank you ladies. I'm so sorry you're having to go through this.

I think it would be helpful for future reference if you both post in this thread how your complications first presented themselves. Later on this thread might be very very helpful to anyone who has or may have a similar situation. Thanks.

Good thoughts - luck is not a factor - for your healing Trish and for your continued journey Robyn.

I'll just say what I know, to the best of my memory. I'm absolutely not saying anything is wrong, or that your medical care staff aren't doing their jobs perfectly well. This means nothing other than sharing an experience a family member went through.

A family member had a surgical procedure performed on her abdomen. Her wound became infected and had to be re-opened. She ended getting a Pseudomonas infection, and she had bluish-green drainage that looked *exactly* like your picture. When she called her doctor to complain during the initial onset of the secondary infection, as soon as she said "bluish green drainage" she was told to come straight in, that it could be bad news.

The inside is healing as well.. but it seems to be healing in a V shape on the inside... I am only maybe putting in 3 - 3 1/2 inches of gauze. It is the thin "packing" sterile in a bottle gauze. before I was putting in 5-6 inches of the same stuff. I am packing it once a day and seeing the wound specialist once a week. I am not going to see her this week but I will see her on the 22nd.

I wouldnt think the outside will close up because the packing is in the way. Hmmm let see what happens I might ask to see the Dr. at the wound clinic.

Trish after looking at this again this morning with clearer eyes (LOL) I just have to ask if the inside is healing slower than the outside. The tiny hole in the second picture looks great but the cavern that appears to be inside concerns me still. If the outside is healing faster then you could still have a pocket of infection deep inside.

How much packing are you using and how often are you packing this wound?

Trish of course follow what you are being told by your wound Doctor but here is my concern.

The pseudomonas scare is a real one.

Also, if the wound is not being washed out with saline every time you pack then you could essentially push more infection into the wound instead of washing it out. The gauze strips you are speaking of acts as a wick to suck the infection out. But it needs the saline you use to wash out the wound to begin the wick process. At least this is what I learned in Nursing school. LOL!!

The top layer is a thin layer of new growth. So it can close easily without the inside healing. I have seen it happen. Just because it looks good on the outside does not mean it is healing on the inside. That is the main concern. I know Lisa's took three months to fully heal properly.

Please do let the Doctor look at the area just for piece of mind. If nothing else they should culture the green goo. Green to me is not good in an open wound. Just my thoughts.

I dont wash it out with saline Water... I put the saline water into the bottle of gauze and then once the strip cut my husband adds hydro gel to it then packs my wound. the wound specialist said that washing it out will get my own body bactieria in there and make it worse.

Well either way I am seeing her next week and I think I will take her up on the offer on sending me to the wound clinic at the hospital.

Trish,

When you go ask about a vac.. I am not sure of the exact name but with my c-section they left it open and asked me if I wanted to be a guini pig and try an experiental device. I was wide open for ten weeks and then they hooked this vacume, that i carried around like a purse,up to me and it healed in 2 weeks or less.. my incision was about four inches deep and five inches long.. The idea of the vacume was it sucked the infection out and also pulled the tissue together so it would heal on the inside first.. The infection that was pulled out was stored in a clear container on the vacuume so i could see it and it was GREEN, Black, red brown. ect.... When I asked about it, the green was the infected tissue, the rest was dead tissue and old blood... The point is that green was good FOR ME it was being sucked out of me... But before I agreed to the vac. My gause was green also and they had no problem with it. The first day I saw the green I called the office freaking out and they said the best way to know when an infection is in need of imediate attention is to smell.. I know its sounds gross, but the fact is you have an infection, we all know that its obviouse, but when the infected tissue starts killing the healthy tissue and taking over it has a really bad smell... Again I am not a dr. so make sure you tell them whats going on but if you are going to the wound hos. ask about the vac. I know after the study I was in they did put it on the market and maybe that will speed up your recovery....Good luck honey and thanks for all the pics.. I am in nursing school so all this is cool to me.... LOL

Wow, completely gross but also completely fascinating! Trish, I'm sure you'll heal up just fine. Hang in there. We're rootin' for ya!

Jen,

VAC (Vacuum Assisted Closure) is now commonly used in the hospital to heal decubitus ulcers (bedsores) and wounds that are slow to heal. They work when nothing else will and I'm glad it did the trick for you.

Trish,

The new pictures you posted look like you're healing. If the drainage begins to smell, if the wound borders become red and warm or if you develop a fever, call your MD.