FOR THE STRONG ONLY... GROSS PICTURES ATTACHED OF MY NEW OPEN SURGICAL WOUND. Darcy, this one's for you.

My wound was left open intentionally. It is packed with several feet of gauze that is packed way into the gap that was left behind from the port. Billy will remove the packing today and replace it with several feet of fresh gauze, and my friend back home will unpack and repack the wound every day. The object is for it to heal from the inside, out. So, hopefully the inches of gauze will get a tad smaller every day.

Dr. Billy opened the port incision to clean it and to remove the port. He also made small slits in 2 of my original wounds (you can see bits of white Steri-Strips) to insert the camera for the laporscopy (sp?) and he made one brand new incision... can you find it? Nope, cuz he was nice enough to hide it inside my belly button, so when it heals it will be completely concealed.

Get your barf bags... Darcy, enjoy.

Photographs by NPM (Nurse Penni Money)

Hi Lisa,

I lost your telephone number. Could you please send it to me? I want to call you.

Babs in TX

334/185/170

-149

Hey Penni - COME ANYTIME! Ireland's open!!! It rains all year round but is the coolest little island in the world! I'd love to put you up and show you around! I'm washing the spare bedlinen right now.....

Oh my lord. I shouldn't have looked. Penni, you are an ANGEL!!! Darcy, nice to see you licking your lips at the sight. Gag.

Lisa, honey, once again I'm sending all kinds of CLEAN, HEALING, NEVER-AGAIN-INFECTED vibes to you and your gaping belly-hole. Erk. Now I have to go make dinner. Joy.

Lisa, I know it's been tough girl...but it does look pretty good and I know it's going to heal up even better.

My son had to have emergency surgery a couple of summers ago for his Crohn's disease (had 2 foot of intestine taken out) and they did a similar thing of letting it heal from the inside out without all the stitches. When we got home, I still had to do the dressing every night which is really hard to do on your own kid (he couldn't look at the 8 inch gap in his belly). But it healed up very nicely....and I know, just KNOW yours will too.

Take care, okay?

Here is a pic of Lisa's wound as it appears this month. I am very pleased with the results. IT looks GREAT!!

Word of warning this is NOT for the faint of heart.

The pic on the LEFT is the day after surgery and Dr. Billy was in the middle of redressing it.

The pic on the RIGHT is how it looks now. TWO months later.

thanks for the update Penni!

Lisa,

I know what you have to got through with packing the incision. I had to have it done when Ihad a c-section. It heals up pretty quickly, and you can see the amount of gauze used getting smaller, and smaller.

OH MY WORDDDDDDDDD, ((and all those other pseduo cuss words))!!!!!!! I am not fainting yet as of course, being the cop in me, I enjoy some of the wierder things in life I guess. I have seen much worse wounds in car accidents (read: wear your seatbelts and wear a helmet while on a motorcycle).

Oh lisaaaaaaaaaa! Does it hurt her at all? Can she wear pants or does she have to live in the long dress type outfits till this heals? Why keep the band after all this time? She sure is hell bent on keeping this band!

I have to admit with 13 more days to go, I am scared this will happen to meeeeee! Please take care Lisa! (relay the message Penni)

(((((((HUGS)))))))

Jenna

Oh my goodness that is so GROSS!!! But it does look a LOT better. Glad your healing up finally Lisa. Best wishes, Teresa

my goodness girl...

and how long - total - have you been living with this hole?

Oh my goodness that is so GROSS!!! But it does look a LOT better. Glad your healing up finally Lisa. Best wishes, Teresa

Oh My Goodness Teresa, You are totally making me crack up this morning. Between this post & the swing bench, my face is hurting from laughing at your comments.

LISA- Girl you have so been put through the wringer & back again. Good thing your a tough cookie - I don't think many people would have pulled through as well as you are! Keep healing Lisa. & PLEASE send us another photo update soon. Be good to yourself!!!

Ouch

It does look a lot better than at the beginning.

Praying that it Heals over real soon for you..

Wow, I can't believe this still hasn't healed completely. My fingers and toes are crossed for a TOTAL healing VERY VERY soon.

Newbies, PLEASE don't be scared off. This is a very unusual situation.

Holy batcave, this is the first time I actually looked at the before pic and my skin is all crawly now. That first picture was January 29, so in less than 2 months it's gotten a lot smaller. I hope it's closed by my May Band anniversary. It's exhausting. The worst part is the bandage rashes. It doesn't hurt, but it still grosses me out so sometimes I have a hard time changing the packing.

I've been afraid to say how much the last procedure cost - it was over $34,000.00. I just got a letter today that insurance covered most of it, which kinda really pisses me off. If insurance would have covered my Band for $15,000, none of this would have happened. Now I'm in the hole for about $8,000. They can pay $30 grand but not $15?

omg, Girl, no one can say that you don't love your band after all you have been through, and not have taken it out!!!! Good luck to you I hope it keeps getting smaller and smaller for you...