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Posted 10/30/2013 11:56 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all,
Hoping someone's had this issue & can tell me what it turned out to be. I'm getting a different diagnosis from every provider I see. Then, once I finally picked one to settle on, she's gone through 3 different diagnoses and still isn't sure. Before I have more surgery, I'd like to feel confident this is probably what it is.

I had a prob with the scar where they put my extension cord in (I'm tall). It was open for 20 months before my crappy HMO finally, begrudgingly agreed to allow my PM to sew it up. But honestly, he's a PM and even he said that he really wished they could've run some tests or sent me to a specialist to try to better figure out what was going on.

In June, he removed some of the excess scar tissue, plus a hard, white glob that contained some of the sutures from 7 years ago that apparently never fully dissolved (they were in the center of the glob). Then, in September, when I was supposed to get the 2nd set of leads for my low-back, plus the upgraded SCS that does 2 different zones, my PM saw that the cord there was badly frayed and needed to be replaced due to safety concerns. So he cut into that scar again.

Since then, the place has been warm, red, swollen, itchy & crazy painful. On top of that, I have been getting really bad sweats & occasional chills -- very little time in between. The scar was deemed to be hypertrophic. I've had hypertrophic scars before, so that made some sense. They gave me kenalog shots & I felt better for a couple weeks until it started getting red & super swollen -- kinda like a blood blister. Then, a scar-shaped membrane peeled off. I'm not sure if it was skin glue or actual skin. 2 hours later, the scar burst open & was bleeding like crazy.

So I went to dermatologist & at first she thought it was one thing & did electrocautery, but then when she got deeper, she changed her mind. Thinks it might be a pyogenic granuloma. I wanted a second opinion, so I went to my GP, but he's thinking it looks more like a suture granuloma. But they both want to cut first & test later. Makes me so nervous, but I have to do something. It hurts like crazy. Feels like someone is burning it with a curling iron. Ouchie!!! Plus it's now draining this running yellow and brown liquid in addition to still bleeding some.

Any ideas? Does this sound at all familiar to anyone?
Posted 10/31/2013 5:25 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Tirzah,

Sounds familiar to me - though I've never had problems to the extent that you're describing.

First up though - 'yellow' drainage usually indicates infection. Especially if you're having sweats, chills, etc. You need to get someone to at least take a swab NOW and work out if there are bacteria bacteria present, what they are - and get you onto appropriate antibiotics. If there is infection present, your SCS site will probably need to be explored more deeply to check whether anything has tracked along the leads.

It does sound like it might initially have been a suture granuloma though - given your description of the glob with suture material within. I know with my back, I felt like I was constantly being jabbed by something and after three months of non healing and a big swollen lump, my doctor found a tiny wee piece of suture. Once it was removed the whole thing started healing up, but I do have a keloid scar in my back.

Keep pushing your doctors hard til they do something about this...maybe even go to the ER if that's possible. Any chance of infection with SCS is a major deal and you need someone to sit up and take notice.

Very best wishes.

LAura
Posted 10/31/2013 4:47 PM (GMT 0)
This is not from a SCS unit but just recently my grandson had a wart on his back to become infected. We do not know how it started, whether something was in his shirt & bit him or what. His skin was hot to touch, red & swollen. It initially drained a lot of pus out. The dr dug around & made the hole bigger to keep it draining, The next day he had a rash going around to his arm pit & a red streak. Back to the dr same day. The dr took one look at it & said he needed to lance it, they did and nothing but blood came out & the dr said that was not good that it was blood said it should have been pus, he said he had developed cellulitis in two days. He put him on a strong antibiotic. I looked at it and it does not look good at all. I told his mother to get him back to the dr.

When they are red & hot you have an infection going on in there somewhere & you should be on a strong antibiotic. They can culture it to see what it is too. It is easy to get staph in something like that. I get cellulitis in my legs often & then go into a full blown staph infection.

Sorry you are having so many problems. Scar tissue is such a booger and they have to be careful when removing it because they can make the situation worse if they remove too much. Good luck...Susie
Posted 11/2/2013 3:08 AM (GMT 0)
Wow, Susie. That cellulitis thing might be it. What kind of doctor diagnoses & treats that?

Hurts like heck. My PM just re-upped my pain meds today. I'm losing my mind. I've got no job. No insurance. No money. It's a total mess. Between my unbelievably awful ex-HMO that basically waits until you are ready to be permanently hospitalized before they cover anything (usually it takes 4-6 ER visits before they will pay for fairly basic services), my bad luck & the stress of being in the middle of an investigation against my (former) creepo osteopath, I'm just about ready to give up trying to be independent and go live in a nursing home. I've got a little bit of money coming to me from insurance reimbursements -- and hopefully, if I get approved for disability, from that too, so I want to make the most of it.

Since it takes on average 9 months to be able to get in to a Medicaid provider in my area -- plus, it would mean driving 90 minutes each way to the nearest one -- I figure I'll have to come up with the money to pay for the procedure out of pocket. Maybe I can get a few side jobs to make a little money, but I'm in so much pain it hurts to stand right now. I'm changing my bandages 6x/day and putting warm washcloth compresses on it once or twice a day, depending on how swollen, yellow & painful it is. I just wish I could catch a break. I can't even use my SCS right now due to it irritating the wound. Plus, the doctor has asked me to limit stretching as much as possible & no low-back traction at all. Ugh. So much pain. :(
Posted 11/2/2013 5:22 PM (GMT 0)
That is why I mentioned it, this does sound like a bad infection. Do you have a primary care dr, this is something they can take care of. My grandson is being treated by his regular pediatrician. He is still being treated too. If nothing else go to an ER. If you see red streaks running get to ER ASAP, that can be a sign of blood poisoning & for sure this sounds like a bad infection.....Susie

Let us know what you find out.
Posted 11/3/2013 12:42 AM (GMT 0)
What do you mean red streaks running? You mean like my skin changing color or something? Of course, there is always a little stream of watery blood running down my back basically all the time unless I have it wrapped with an Ace bandage, but I can't stand to wrap it for very long.

My PCP was the one who said he thought it was just a stitch granuloma. My PM said that "couldn't" be the case since it existed before his revision surgery. I'm not 100% sure that's true since I read some stitch granulomas can form years after the stitches were put in, but it doesn't seem like I have the symptoms of that plus it doesn't look anything like that.

My dermatologist suggested a silver nitrate stick to treat it. I had a horrible reaction to silver sufazadine before -- foot got huge swollen hard lump, turned my whole foot red & itched like crazy. When I lanced it, I'd find flecks of silver inside. Not sure if it was silver bonding with the cream off my sewing needle or if it was silver from the cream collating in the burn, but my PCP suggested I stay away from anything with silver after that. It's never happened before & I tried using the needle just to faux-lance a layer of skin on my finger & no silver came off there -- probably should've tried a gold needle to better narrow it down, but it was ugly and painful. I couldn't fit my foot in my shoes, so I've been nervous, but silver nitrate does treat a whole lot of problems, so I figure I'll give it a try on Monday and see how that goes.

Because of all everyone here has written, I think what makes the most sense is to have one of the doctors take a swab of the wound & run pathology on it BEFORE I have any procedure. Obviously something isn't right with yellow and brown stuff draining out of it. It's probably best to figure out what the heck it is & then work on getting it removed, rather than having a procedure, running pathology & then finding out I have to have another procedure. I'm also applying for Medicaid on Monday, so that should help. If needed, I can go to a clinic in the nearest major city. They are fairly inexpensive, it's just rough because I'd need to be out the door before 5am, grab a number starting at 6am and then wait until the doctor comes in at 8am for numbers to start being called. They see walk-in patients until noon on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Times are just really tough right now. Found out that when Teva took over the Cephalon Cares Foundation, the lowered the income limit, so I no longer qualify for assistance from them. Hope the doctors can get this wound fixed so I can start decreasing my dose of Actiq. *fingers crossed*
Posted 11/3/2013 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
What I meant is just that a red streak running from the wound site. They are quite visible if you have one, Keep in mind this wart is on my grandson's back is, but above the belt line and he had a red streak that was going up towards his arm pit and a rash as well. I think you need to get your PCP to culture this mess to find out what bacteria it is so it can be treated with the proper antibiotic. With as many bad super bugs that are out there I would not want any procedures done on me until I knew what was going on currently. His dr did not hesitate one bit when it came to putting him on a very strong antibiotic. He normally gives the usual run of the mill antibiotic, not his time, he told us up front he needed something very strong. Susie
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