2 questions: Laughing and Steri-strips

[charlie4171 0]

I'm 3 days post op.

Question: Does laughing make your port area hurt?

I was laughing and OMG I started crying because the pressure was so bad and it hurt!!!

Questions 2/3: How soon did your surgical tape fall off? And how soon did your incisions start itching?

[lellow 1,713]

My surgical tape started peeling off about 5 days after surgery but I still have bits of it stuck around the incisions. I reckon in another week, all the remnants will be gone. The incisions started intching like crazy at about 1 and a 1/2 weeks after surgery, but it only lasted about 5 days and now doesn't itch anymore.

And yeah laughing hurt in the first week, but now it's no problems! Sometimes carrying my 2yo still makes my main (port) incision feel like it's under pressure, though.

[krtork 0]

I still have some of my steri-strips on, was banded two weeks ago. They are starting to pull off, except for two of the incisions that I had to have retaped after surgery.

The itching started about a week or more after surgery, itched like crazy, I too have noticed that it does not itch so much in the last couple of days.

My port area is still pretty sensitive, if I bump up against a counter, I can feel it. I still, out of fear I think, grab my stomach when I sneeze!

Laughing hasn't been too bad, except in the beginning!

Everything seems to be better each day!

[MistyD65 1]

I haven't noticed pain when laughing. But early this morning I woke up and was laying on my stomach, then raised up my right side a bit(where the port is) and coughed. That made my scar hurt more than it has since the first week. And it continued to hurt for a while, esp when I was getting out of bed a few hours later. It's back to normal now, thank goodness.

I still have a bit of the synthetic scab on some of the scars and my surgeon removed the steristrips from my port scar last Friday. Those steristrips are tenancious little buggers! The skin under them is now pretty red and itchy. The itchiest though is right around the margins of where the strips were. But nothing like it was about 5 days after surgery. Oi!

I read this hint about removing left-over adhesive...use a pencil eraser, very gently over the adhesive. Works great!

[lukesmom 0]

This may sound crazy, I'm not certain which incision is my port incision. The main incision (longest incision) is sometimes painful. I have staples still in- they'll be removed next Monday. I'll have to ask which incision is which. I can't feel the port. Is this normal?

[MistyD65 1]

I'm pretty sure the biggest incision is your port incision. Mine is on my right side. I asked my doctor where exactly the port is, and he pointed to the area just below that incision. And no, I can't feel the port...buried under lots of fat, I imagine!