Bulging area around incision

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tko683
tko683 Member Posts: 264 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hello friends,
My husband had liver resection surgery 7 weeks ago. All of a sudden there is an area on part of his incision that is kind of bulging out. He says it doesn't hurt but I wonder what it could be. He just start radiation last week and doesn't really feel like going to see the surgeon again who is not in the same city as the radiation doctor. Has anyone else had this happen? I hope he hasn't injured himself somehow but he has been lifting things lately that I think may have been too heavy. Any ideas? Thanks so much for your wonderful advice. Hugs to everyone. Teri

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  • steveandnat
    steveandnat Member Posts: 886
    #2
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    Not sure
    Not sure what could be causing it but maybe give the surgeon a quick call just to be on the safe side. Praying everything is okay.
    Jeff
  • karen40
    karen40 Member Posts: 211 Member
    #3
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    Possible explaination
    Hi Teri,
    I could be way off base here but I thought I'd share my experience. About 8 weeks after my rectal resection surgery,while going through radiation,(although I don't think radiation had anything to do with it) the very end of my incision began to look puffy and bruised. At 9 weeks it reopened. My body was rejecting the buried stitches from surgery and was now trying to spit them out. I went to the surgeon and he tried to remove the troublesome stitches by opening up the incision a bit more. He was unsuccessful. The incision healed up to just reopen. Went back to the surgeon, who had a second go at it. This time he pulled out a 1cm piece of stitch.He was hoping this would solve the problem. Went home, healed up to once again have the incision reopen. At this point, I grabbed my tweezers and went in myself. I pulled out 3 small 1cm stitches.Over a 10 day period, when ever I felt a little discomfort, I'd go on in and pull out the surfacing stitches. I pulled out about 15 - 1cm pieces of stitch and one huge knot. I healed up in short order and since haven't had any problems. Like I said, I could be way off base but I thought I'd share since there seems to be some similarities. I'd still give the surgeon a call to see what he/she thinks. I'm sure there are other possible explanations out there. As a matter of fact and come to think of it, Lisa42, had a question about a lump under her scar from her liver resection. I don't think she ever got any resolution on it. I also don't think her liver resection is as recent as your husbands. (if that makes a difference ???) You may want to pm her.
    Karen
  • Sundanceh
    Sundanceh Member Posts: 4,392 Member
    #4
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    Lifting?
    Could be a possible hernia, Teri.

    If he's been lifting (and you know he shouldn't even try to lift anything over 10 lbs - especially so quickly after major surgery)...this could be the issue.

    The surgeon might want to look at it so he could evaluate the situation.

    -Craig
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #5
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    Sundanceh said:

    Lifting?
    Could be a possible hernia, Teri.

    If he's been lifting (and you know he shouldn't even try to lift anything over 10 lbs - especially so quickly after major surgery)...this could be the issue.

    The surgeon might want to look at it so he could evaluate the situation.

    -Craig

    Hernia or healing fluid buildup........
    during the healing process the body puts out fluid around the scar in which normally the body reprocesses after a while...Once in a while it becomes trapped and eventually finds a place to secrete or rush out. I had this happen and it felt as if I peed in my pants, it was simply all that fluid ( which actually causes pressure and with it comes pain) until it finds an escape avenue...It will seem a little puffy and slightly irritated looking. It may seep before it eventually drains or is absorbed back into the body...

    or.........its a hernia from lifting.......
  • John23
    John23 Member Posts: 2,122 Member
    #6
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    Teri -
    There was a report from Nigeria where a patient in the same
    surgical situation had the same problem. They found that during
    the closing of the surgical wound, a rat had managed to burrow
    it's way into the wound area and remained trapped in there.

    Not really. It just sounded like you needed a lil' uplifting.

    Buzz and Craig are right. A call to the surgeon, and perhaps a
    professional's look-see would be in order. Hernias are as common,
    as fluid build-up, and both can turn into a big problem if ignored.

    So don't ignore it. The radiologist may be able to offer an
    opinion, or get a consult with a surgeon while you're there,
    but if not, schedule an appointment with the surgeon and get
    it looked at.

    Best Health,

    John
  • tko683
    tko683 Member Posts: 264 Member
    #7
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    Buzzard said:

    Hernia or healing fluid buildup........
    during the healing process the body puts out fluid around the scar in which normally the body reprocesses after a while...Once in a while it becomes trapped and eventually finds a place to secrete or rush out. I had this happen and it felt as if I peed in my pants, it was simply all that fluid ( which actually causes pressure and with it comes pain) until it finds an escape avenue...It will seem a little puffy and slightly irritated looking. It may seep before it eventually drains or is absorbed back into the body...

    or.........its a hernia from lifting.......

    hope it is not a hernia
    Thanks everyone for your responses. I hope it is just something that will go away. I just want to get him through the radiation right now. He is definately not listening about the lifting though......kind of hard to stop him....he can be a very stubborn patient! Maybe the lifting has caused some fluid to build up around the incision like Buzzard said. We will see. Thanks again for your helpful advice! God bless, Tero
  • christinecarl
    christinecarl Member Posts: 543 Member
    #8
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    Does it appear red or warm
    Does it appear red or warm to the touch? I ended up with an infection after surgery and ended up on antibiotics. I hope he gets it checked out, you can't be too careful
  • westie66
    westie66 Member Posts: 642
    #9
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    christinecarl said:

    Does it appear red or warm
    Does it appear red or warm to the touch? I ended up with an infection after surgery and ended up on antibiotics. I hope he gets it checked out, you can't be too careful

    Incisional Hernia
    Hi: I had both an infected incision (took antibiotics) and have had an incisional hernia for well over a year (got it a few months after the surgery to remove my gallbladder, its tumour, and part of my liver because I didn't stop lifting things like my small dog even when told not to!). It is an odd shaped bulge a bit to the side of the actual incision scar. It shows up on scans every time and is getting bigger but they won't fix it until chemo and potential surgery is over. I wear a wide elastic band specially made for these things to support it. Your doctor can easily identify it. These happen often after an
    incision in the abdomen because we use those muscles a lot, just getting up and down.
    Cheryl

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