Incision healing question???

KierstenRx
KierstenRx Member Posts: 249
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi all,
It's been exactly 8 weeks since surgery. I have done 2 chemo treatments (FOLFOX). Before surgery I went through 28 radiation sessions. My behind area is completely healed up. However, my front incision is having some issues. It is completely healed up except for a very small area in my abdominal fold (gut if you want to get down to it). Anyway, my surgeon put me on Bactrim DS over a month ago, and when he looked at it he said it was fine. However it is still having discharge. I had a nurse culture it last week. She went ahead and put me on Levaquin 500 twice a day. It still doesn't look much better so today I marched into the oncologist office to have him look at it. He said the culture grew nothing and that it looks fine and it is just taking a long time to completely heal due to radiation and the location. He told me to put neosporin on it. I told him I have consistently ran a 99.8 fever every night. He said it is not an infection and that we will be ready to start Avastin next time. Has any of you had trouble with healing in abdominal folds???? Was there anything that you found helpful in making it heal quicker??? Did any of you run a low grade fever during treatment?? Any advice would be helpful.

Kiersten

Comments

  • Moesimo
    Moesimo Member Posts: 1,072 Member
    #2
    I had a post op wound infection. I never had a fever. I had 2 open areas in my incision. One opened on its own and one was opened in the emergency room, because it was a weekend. It could have been done in the doctors office. the area was numbed with local anesthetic. It was really no big deal. I had to pack both areas twice a day. It took about 5 months to heal. If you had radiation it can slow down the healing process.


    Maureen
  • 66Rose
    66Rose Member Posts: 58
    #3
    Kiersten.....

    I also had radiation and I had several openings in my midline, three to be exact. The first two closed within a few months, but one hole right in the middle just closed a month ago, my surgery was October 2nd, 2006 so it took a good 5+ months to heal.

    I had a home health care nurse out every week to monitor it and I kept it covered. There really wasn't anything to help it along to heal faster.

    And yes I also ran a low grade fever after surgery, they stopped after about 2 months.

    God Bless,

    Liz :)
  • KathiM
    KathiM Member Posts: 8,028 Member
    #4
    I had one area at the base of my incision. I kept it very clean, and used Neosporin. Left it open (no bandage) as much as possible.

    3 months later, it was gone. I used Vitamin E oil on the healing scars...they REALLY healed nicely...

    Hugs, Kathi
  • Patrusha
    Patrusha Member Posts: 487
    #5
    Whenever I run fevers only at night I usually have a urinary tract infection. A simple urine test in your doctor's office could rule out that possibility.

    I, too, had my wound opened because of infection. It was obvious; angry red swelling, hot to the touch. It makes sense that your incision is just taking its little ole time.... how frustrating!

    But a low grade fever every night? Ask your doctors to look into that...

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