Port wound care? Anyone gone thru this?

[doridoodles 0]

I was sent home from my surgery yesterday to do wet to dry dressing changes 1-3 X/ day.I am an RN and prior to surgery to remove my port r/t abscess I had some concerns about packing the wound and discussed w/ Dr. He stated I probably wound not have to pack it and just lay wet gauze over it then the dry gauze and tape??? I had day surg discharge give me some gauze, tape and sterile saline. I think the Dr. is over worked because when the dressing started leaking and I went to change it it was packed quite tightly and was a bit painful and creepy to tug hard on that gauze. It is very hard to pack your own wound and spouse is too creeped out by the stuffing into the hole. I took pain med prior but it still hurts to pack it as deeply as I need to to keep the inner walls of the wound open. Also what is is this aqua cell wound treatment? We dont do much wound care wher I work and this must be very new. Can anyone out there relate? Any suggestions are welcome. Sorrrry so longggg!

[seppi 0]

I have had some of the same problems that you have. I am still packing a wound after about 6 months. I had about 2 weeks where it was almost closed but then it got infected again and was opened. We think that there may be something still inside of the wound, will find out on Wednesday what they plan to do.

[doridoodles 0]

Poor you! 6 months? Where do you get wound supplies? The first week is hard for me. I had a Mem. Day pity fest ie. Applebees & Chilis and ready to get back on the wagon. Dr. says it will prob. be 6 weeks till I get a new port. Thanks for replying!

[TSB 1]

I have not had the lab band surgery yet. However, when I had an abdominal hysterctomy in 2005 I had an issue w/ the incision not healing properly (doc went in through the scar from 3 c-sections). I can't imagine having to clean & pack it myself. Have you looked into whether your insurance covers any kind of home health care? I was lucky, as that was part of my coverage. I had a home health care nurse visiting me daily for 2 to 3 weeks until my incision healed properly. I hope you feel better soon!