Hello all, I am currently 23 days post-takedown. I have no issues besides a raw bottom at time. Only using the bathroom 3-4 times a day. I am worried about my purse-string stitch closure from my my ostomy was. It has grown and gotten bigger instead of shrinking! Is this normal? I had to start using bigger gauze because the gauze I had been using had become too small to cover the wound.. so Is this something nortmal or no?
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I have never heard of a purse stitch wound. I do know my wound is closed and there's a big embarrassing scar. The scar is taking forever to fade though. You're lucky you only go 3-4 times because I go a lot more especially if I eat or drink. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Maybe you can call your surgeon?
Yea I'm going to see my surgeon today they want me to come on I'll prob get admitted lol cuz I just vomited too
but a purse string is the one that they close but kinda leave it open.. so it takes awhile to heal and looks like a bullet hole. But yes I'm blessed to only have a BM 3-4 times it's nice I was expecting a lot more but nope.
Hello, KC23.
My stoma site was closed off using the purse string method. Is yours oozing anything, or is it still an open wound? Is that why you need to keep gauze on it? After I got home from hospital I did not put gauze or any covering or dressing on it. I left it exposed and allowed it to dry and heal that way. There was a tiny opening in the middle that closed by itself within two weeks or so, I can't remember exactly. I had a tiny knot of string that wouldn't dissolve and it had to be snipped off by my doctor. One year after takedown, my scar is wider than the actual wound, but that should fade in time.
It's still pudding and oozing out but it's been 24 days since takedown.. but the open wound itself has gotten wider and bigger, if I didn't cover with gauze I'd get pics and blood all over my clothes, sheets etc. but whenever I change the gauze I usually give it a hour so my wound can get some fresh air.
I have tried taking gas x, beano because I have horrible pain at the moment and. I thing helps.. I figured t might be gas pain but usually if it's gas pain my stomach moves and makes noises and what not. At some point yesterday and this morning. I could barely walk and look like a hunchback because it hurts so bad.. could I have been nauseated and only ate a banana yesterday.. does this sound like gas pain or something else
Hi, KC23.
Call your doctor. If I had a wound 24 days old and it was still oozing pus or blood, or warmer to the touch than the surrounding area, or has an odour, I would see my doctor or surgeon, just to rule out anything serious. Did you eat foods rich in protein after your surgeries? Wounds need protein to heal. Try to eat eggs, fresh fish, tofu. Try to keep some food in your stomach so your acids have something to work on.
I walked like a hunchback after my first surgery when my stomach muscles were not mended yet and felt as though it couldn't support my back. Very painful, but after a few months my abdominals mended and I was able to walk properly. My home care nurse would "order" me all the time to walk upright! Even now, my stoma scar can hurt if I move the wrong way, like a hitch, but I think that's just scar tissue around the internal closure. I can feel the slightly hard tissue, so your purse string closure might feel the same way next year. Call your doctor about the oozing.
My wound ending up splitting open and needed these long sutures cut out. Omg haha I almost said I was walking like a hunchback in my post but figured no one would know what it was haha. Yea it hurts so bad to walk and my stomach gets so bloated and I don't know if that pain is normal or not but it hurts so bad yet my surgeons PA acts like my pain should be gone..
Hello, KC23.
Once you get your stoma wound sorted out, try to walk once or twice a day outdoors. Now that spring is here go for 20 or 30 minute walks everyday to rebuild your muscles, especially abdominals. Even if you are hunched over, walk anyway! People seeing me walk like a 120 year old didn't worry me (much) because it was more important to get my strength back. It hurt so much I worried I would be hunched over for life, so I walked all the time and everyday it got a little better. You are still early days so everything is still healing, hurting, adjusting, learning new foods. In a few months you will be back to "normal".
my wounds are 12 days out they used all staples to close mine but the staples slowly worked that wound open on one end and mine still leaks also and my stomach still is draining where the staples are tomrrow is my appointment with the surgeon to remove all my staples hopefully it will be good news
