Question about ex-stoma wound

It's been nearly 4 months since my operation and my ex-stoma wound still hasn't healed. My mum saw it under the dressing today and told me to get it checked out ASAP - she thought it was infected. There's always pus when I take the dressing off, but it hasn't smelled bad, so I haven't been too worried about it. Once I clean it up, it looks a lot better. But it just doesn't seem to be healing up. Could it be infected or does it really take this long to heal?

My stoma wound was stapled shut, so it closed pretty much immediately -- not helpful to you. If your wound is still open after 4 months and there's pus, I think it's worth having it looked at. When was the last time someone (nurse or doctor) saw your wound?

I agree with Liez. 4 months is a long time. I hate going too so I understand trying to avoid it :(

When I had my stoma moved to the other side, the wound was stapled and it stayed closed, except for a bit of drainage the first week or so. It does hurt in weird ways sometimes, and the scar is changing.... I think the collagen is getting eaten up a bit. I also may still have a hernia behind it.

But yes, agree that getting yours looked at is a good idea.

Ugh, the packing was awful. My home are nurses were pretty good but it totally grossed me out. I would lay on my bed and either hold my breath or do deep breathing. I never wanted to look at it. My mom and husband were there everyday looking at it saying "Oh it looks so good!" I would be like "BARF!!!!"

I wish you luck. I have a weak stomach and it was gross.

Although my hubby just said "Oh honey, it wasn't that bad." He lies.....it felt like a gaping wound.

It's surgeon's preference. An ileostomy closure is considered a "dirty" wound because of exposure to the inside of the intestine, so leaving it open to heal vastly reduces the risk of abscess and infection. I suspect that mine was stapled because I was very young and healthy at the time of my closure, with no other meds for 6+ months, no inflammation, etc so my infection risk was as low as it can get. That said, it doesn't hurt to express your preference and let your surgeon take it into account.

I had a temp ileo, probably took at least 3 months for them to stop packing it... I honestly don't think it was that bad. Homecare nurse came and did it every day for a couple months, with me going to have it done at the local ER on the weekends at first... then gradually we did it mon wed friday... then it was tues and friday... Had surgery on April 22 and I think they were finished completely coming by July 16th or thereabouts.

NCOT: Packing is a soft sterile fabric. It's used so that the stoma wound heals from the bottom up. Without it there's a chance the wound will close over and leave a cavity, which can become infected. My stoma wound was packed at regular intervals (2-3 times a week at the start) for about 2 months or so. Many years ago I had a perianal abscess, which had to be incised and drained under general anaesthetic. This wound also had to be packed regularly, as fistula's can also be an issue. Boy, did I used to dread seeing the Nurse on those days! I don't want to alarm you, but I hope that wound has closed fully if it wasn't packed.

Oh my gosh y'all are freaking me out!!!! Having to have the temporary ileo was no big deal but now I'm wishing they could have done my resection in one surgery simply so I don't have this wound!!!! Packing for 2 months!!! I was hopin to go back to work in 2 weeks!!! I don't have time for nurses coming for months!!! Plus I'm already nauseous thinking about this!!!

Intestines hanging out of my body, no big deal. open wound, kill me now!!!!

Silent Lucidity said...
NCOT: Packing is a soft sterile fabric. It's used so that the stoma wound heals from the bottom up. Without it there's a chance the wound will close over and leave a cavity, which can become infected. My stoma wound was packed at regular intervals (2-3 times a week at the start) for about 2 months or so. Many years ago I had a perianal abscess, which had to be incised and drained under general anaesthetic. This wound also had to be packed regularly, as fistula's can also be an issue. Boy, did I used to dread seeing the Nurse on those days! I don't want to alarm you, but I hope that wound has closed fully if it wasn't packed.

Sorry, I somehow missed this earlier on :/

Thanks SL. I thought it was something along those lines, but that clears it up. I have been having low-grade fevers, but that's *probably* due to recurring Crohn's disease than to wound infection - I always had fevers as part of my Crohn's in the past, so it makes sense.

blksteeda said...
Mine was left open as shown in the pic below. They obviously stitched the muscle layer closed and it was left to heal from the inside out. I didn't have packing for mine, I just had mine covered with a simple gauze pad and tape. I showered with no covering on it and water just flowed in and out of the hole. You can see in the pic there was a suture all the way around the opening edge, the white knot is the end of it. Mine healed beautifully.

Heh, I had a black knot rather than a white one, but that was largely how my wound looked - perhaps not as deep a hole as that seems to be in the first pic. What happened to your suture? After a couple of months, the nurse snipped it and pulled it out, because it showed no signs of dissolving despite being told that's what it would do.

cupcakespinkgal said...
Oh my gosh y'all are freaking me out!!!! Having to have the temporary ileo was no big deal but now I'm wishing they could have done my resection in one surgery simply so I don't have this wound!!!! Packing for 2 months!!! I was hopin to go back to work in 2 weeks!!! I don't have time for nurses coming for months!!! Plus I'm already nauseous thinking about this!!!

Intestines hanging out of my body, no big deal. open wound, kill me now!!!!

I had the nurses coming around for about 2 months, but tbh after the first 2 weeks I could have done the dressings myself. There wasn't any pain at all and it didn't stop me from doing anything, like blksteeda said.

Ah okay <_<.

How long did your wound take to heal 100%? I reckon it'll be 5 months for me by the time it's 100% healed - it's been 4 and a half months already.