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When can I leave the band-aids off my surgery wounds?

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Posted 5/6/2018 6:53 PM (GMT 0)
So to many this will seem like a silly question but Im still walking around with by dressings 6 weeks post robotic surgery. Overkill?

I cant get a straight answer online and I dont want to annoy my PCa nurse AGAIN! Ive redressed the wounds several times of course with the waterproof band-aids and gauze that I was given. My wounds were stitched with dissolvable stitches and look fine with no redness or leaks. The dressings are unstained. I found one site that said usualy around 2 WEEKS is fine!

Whats the consensus? Have I been silly leaving them on so long and can I get rid of the darn things?
Posted 5/6/2018 8:14 PM (GMT 0)
Dharmalcom.... i think the only thing you are doing that is silly, is not wanting to annoy the PCa nurse. Thats a reasonable question, and you are paying these people to answer both reasonable as well as silly questions. It sounds to me like you can get rid of the dressings, and 6 weeks is a long time to be needing them, so i would think you are ok to get rid of them.

But I'm not a doctor. I'm not even a nurse. So pick up the phone and annoy the nurse. I can guarantee she won't be annoyed. Maybe surprised that you didnt ask sooner, but not annoyed LOL
Posted 5/6/2018 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
Call and annoy the nurse. You should have been given instructions for that by now, by the doctor. Big oversight in my opinion to not get told about dressing the wound.

and I'd think by now it would be just fine to leave the dressing off.

Andrew
Posted 5/6/2018 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
When did they remove your stitches or staples? Usually they removed the same time they pull the catheter. After the stitches are out, then a few more days is all that is needed.

That being said, yeah, ask the nurse.
Posted 5/6/2018 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again guys. No stitches to be removed. Dissolvable so just come away by themselves. They may well have given me directions on when to remove. Id say from the wounds I could have got rid of the band-aids a few weeks ago lol. As for the nurse. Shes a saint and is inundated and under staffed in a free healthcare system that is underfunded here in Ireland. To be fair its in pieces and the staff do the very best they can. Yes, she would not be annoyed. Shes already had several calls from me and I suppose another one wont hurt.
Posted 5/6/2018 10:13 PM (GMT 0)
This was from my recent laparoscopic hernia surgery. Didn't they give you post-op instructions?

48 hours after your procedure you can remove top dressing; underneath the top dressing you wili see Strips of tape, caIEed steri-strips, ieave strips in place for at least one week. The steri-strips will fall off or be removed on your post op appointment. Once discharged from facility you will be given instructions on after care.
Showers are 0.K.; avoid tub baths, Jacuzzis, and swimming pools for 2 weeks. Avoid heavy lifting, running, jumping, and contact sports for 1‐2 weeks. Ice packs to surgical area during the lSt and 2nd days are helpful for pain and sweiling.
Posted 5/6/2018 10:48 PM (GMT 0)
Here they tell you that injuries heal better without strips and they remove them in a few days, much earlier than cath.
Posted 5/7/2018 9:14 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks guys. I never had any steri strips at any stage. Just dissolvable stitches under the band aids.
Posted 5/7/2018 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
Six weeks post-op...? Uh, yeah, you don’t need bandaids any more (nor for the past couple weeks). Quite silly to call the nurse. I'm a bit amazed they didn't fall off weeks ago.

Post Edited (NKinney) : 5/7/2018 8:02:11 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 5/7/2018 3:07 PM (GMT 0)
lol..... I was replacing the dressings regularly NKinney. They're off. Huzzar!
Posted 5/7/2018 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
On this side of the pond, we say "huzza" (or at least we used to), rhyming with "hay," "day" or "say."
Posted 5/7/2018 4:41 PM (GMT 0)
Dharma my man you are the one who used the term annoying...you in your mind are either annoying her or not...1 and zero...yes or no...binary ...I!...we?? got the impression she was nurse nasty...not nancy...we jump to your defense...and lo...again we are on the wrong side of the village green...its not you its what we humans frustratingly do ...."I play dirges and you do not cry...I play 'happy tunes' and you do not laugh" funny how that happens...like...all the time...must be the binary nature of unity.... PS you were right...it was a silly question...get well...recovery is a series of ups and downs...it will end up....
Posted 5/7/2018 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
Logoslidat whatever wavelength you are on my dial does indeed go that far. You strike me as a man with a few interesting stories. You and me would get on like a house on fire. That's a good thing where I come from lol.
Posted 5/7/2018 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
My ethnicity is Irish and Scotch...Ive met a lot of friends of my older son who teach English in Japan as does my son...he is Japanese/Irish /Scotch...A lot of them named John Paul...you may know why(I do)...any way..I was struck by their...not even sure how to describe it...their in your face school boy hooligan tack...no holds barred...I like that in human being ...and as the fair lass said in the old Irish Spring soap commercials here in America..." I like it tuu "
Posted 5/8/2018 1:47 PM (GMT 0)
lol that "in your face hooligan tack".... we get that from our mothers ... who did not get it from John Paul.
Posted 5/8/2018 4:18 PM (GMT 0)
For the curious...the John Paul we are referring is Pope John Paul 2nd...the Polish Pope who was the first Pope to visit Ireland and did so in in late 1979...The mithers{not sure if that is Scottish or Gailic dialect} fearful for the li'l hooligans to be...sought to protect them...from the ones I know...successfully...
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