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Seroma after ileocecectomy

Location
Ireland
Hi I've just had an ileocecectomy by open incision through the midline. The wound is healing apart from one place. There is a build up of fluid and it leaks out every few days. My gp says crohns is notorious for this complication with wound healing. Has anyone experienced this how long does it last? how did you take care of wound? It doesn't seem to be infected so far anyway...really annoying. Any advice appreciated.
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Hi lolo. I'm sorry, I don't have any insight for you but noticed you asked for additional support. As such, I changed your thread title a little in an effort to maybe get some answers for you. I hope you don't mind. If you do, let me know and I'll change it back.
 
Hi Lolo,

I haven't experienced exactly what you are, but when I had my surgery recently I had a small area that started to weeping after I had had the staples out. In my case I had a small infection, which was treated with antibiotics and cleared up in a week or so.
Hopefully someone with more experience will be along with some advice soon!
Hope it gets better soon!
 
Hi Lolo
I had some issues with wound healing after surgery & had to have the wound packed for a little while. Hope you start to see some improvement soon. It took my wound 5 weeks to close enough to stop having it packed.
 
Hi Lolo, this happened to me. It is a good thing that the fluid is escaping and not building up. That is when it can become infected. Just keep it clean and covered, I kept changing the dressing to keep it as dry as possible. I think it took a few weeks to stop altogether. Xxx
 
Location
Ireland
Thank you all for your info and sharing your experiences. Kaz T17 someone told me its better for fluid to escape but good to hear from someone with experience. I'm changing it twice a day, I will go to my GP tomorrow as fluid is changing colour from clear to yellowy and more thick which seems like infection to me. Such a worry...I think the pain is getting worse than it was and i'm imagining the stitches inside getting infected and opening up and my bowel leaking. Think i'm going crazy with worry imagining the worst!! Feel like a broken record and don't want to annoy family and friends any more than I have over the past 2 years. So good to let it all out here!!!
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
I didn't have this particular procedure done but my incision for my resection did get infected and I had to pack it and let it heal from the inside out for over a month. I did see some yellow on the gauze and sometimes even a little green towards the end of the month when it was almost healed. None of these colors were a lot and only tinged the gauze a little bit. I agree to see your doctor if there's any fluid that's coming out in more mass quantities. The first color I saw was thick reddish orange and smelled awful and gushed/burst out of the incision after a bout of vomiting. I was vomiting with a fever and the wound was red, inflamed and hot to the touch (definite signs of infection). I guess I did have seroma, no one ever called it that and I had to look it up.

Under Appearance of exudate in table 2 from this site: http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2006/september/White/Modern-Exudate-Mgt.html Talks about what colors are normal for healing wounds and which ones are not.
 
Location
Ireland
Well I was at doc and it is infected. Pain is awful, i'm taking antibiotics and strong painkillers now and my head feels like it's floating.....I wonder will I have to pack it eventually...the holes are very small where the fluid is leaking from. I'm so terrified of it bursting inside.
Very low day today:-(
 
Sorry to hear that Lolo. At least you are getting treated. Give it time, hopefully the infection will clear up soon. Let us know xxx
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
I honestly have no idea lolo. I don't know anything about smaller holes really. Mine was over 4 inches across and was about 2 inches deep. There was a slit about an inch roughly that broke open. What they did was cut back open the layer of skin that has healed so the whole area could be packed easily. I'm not sure if a wound vac or even something like a steton used for fistulas could be used, I just don't know. Afidz do you have experience with smaller holes healing? I'm not sure if a wound vac can be used for that.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
How big are the holes? I have never heard of non healing wounds being attributed to Crohn's but it makes sense to me. Are the wounds draining a lot? A lot of times when there were non healing doctors want to try to heal then from the inside out. You may be asked to pack them or if your doctor thinks its necessary, he might order a wound vac. Just try to keep it as strike as possible and only touch it when its necessary
 
Last edited:
Location
Ireland
Holes not big they called them sinuses....about the size of a grain of rice.it drains about the size of a €2 coin every day but it was a lot more like the whole bandage was wet about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
ok, thats good. The smaller the better! they are too small to pack or put a wound vac on it. is he concerned about the drainage? does he think there is an infection?
 
My midline incision completely opened up after having my staples removed 2 weeks after my surgery. I had a 6cm wide gap in my stomach! HORRIFYING. I had to be stitched (with a few staples in there) and I healed up fine 2 weeks later. During both the staples and stitches I expierienced fluid leaking when sleeping on my side. It varied from yellowy brown to blood like. Make sure it doesn't smell! Smell = infection.

Depending how big your openings are and how long you've been out of surgery, would stitches be an option? My body did not heal with staples.
 
Location
Ireland
Yes the sample they took over a week ago is positive for infection, now they are sending another sample in to see what antibiotics it's sensitive to but at the moment i'm on flagyll. Also morphine based painkillers.if there is no improvement I will go back to my surgeon. It's just a constant worry to me and God knows that doesn't help crohns.. But i'm a worrier anyway.
 
Location
Ireland
Missmanic that sounds horrifying alright. Were you left with a big scar? I didn't have staples..dissolvable stitches inside and steri strips outside. Which is weird I thought I'd need something stronger, turns out I probably did:(
 

afidz

Super Moderator
I had a small wound where infection was weeping from, the doctor put me under to make the wound bigger to allow draining. At that point I was put on the wound-vac. Just keep this in mind, if the antibiotics don't work ( I hope they do)
 
My scar is about 6 inches long from just under my belly buton to my pelvic area. I don't think it scarred much more than it would have if I had healed the first time around, but I do have more little scars next to the incision from the 2nd stitches.

When I opened up, the ER doctors tried Steri-strips and they came right off me! I was oozing so much there was no way they would adhear.

I KNOW what an awful worry this is. Apparently it's "common" to have openings along mid-line incisions. Your torso moves around so much it's hard for the skin to bond. If it's possible for you, suggest getting a few stitches! They really hold things together and you don't have to worry about packing the wound.
 
Hopefully once you are on the correct antibiotics you will see some relief pretty quickly. Having surgery is bad enough so I am sorry this has happened to you.
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
Sometimes the wound has to be packed missmanic especially if you're dealing with an infection. Stitching it up will only make matters worse and will prolong healing.

How are you doing lolo?
 
Location
Ireland
Hi everyone thanks for asking. I've finished antibiotics and the pain has finally eased 3 Weeks later!!! After all the oozing a sinus or hole was left so I have to get it packed. Its so gross thank God I don't have to deal with it my local nurse does it. I think i'm finally on the road to recovery!! Just getting to grips with diorrhea after I eat anything/everything and waiting for the swelling to go down. But anything is better than partial bowel obstruction and constipation. Sorry to be graphic but I think ye understand my plight!!! I would be lost without this forum. Thanks everyone x
 

afidz

Super Moderator
Thats great to hear you are feeling better and the infection is gone!! How big of a wound was left when all was said and done? Is it showing signs of healing? MY wounds never wanted to heal so I was just wondering your experience so far.
 
Location
Ireland
Its about 4 inches in total. The very top and very bottom opened and formed those holes or sinus. The rest of wound in between healed beautifully I have to say. I also have 3 small keyhole scars where he tried to do it laparoscopic way first. They healed instantly nearly so it goes to show how much better off you are if its laparoscopic surgery. I also have a 3 inch scar from an emergency appendectomy also open surgery that healed nicely so I wasn't expecting wound packing but then I didn't have crohns at that time of appendicitis. I heard crohns is supposed to affect healing of wounds a bit like diabetes.I don't know how true that is. I still have swelling how long did it take yours to heal? and swelling to go? Looks like i'm 5 months pregnant!!
 

afidz

Super Moderator
Congrats on the pregnancy!!! Do you mean 5 weeks? you only just had surgery so that confuses me a bit.
I had ( I think, the whole period of my life is a bit of a blur now) 6 different wounds over the course of 18 months, I had a really tough time healing and had several bad infections. I was on Humira when it all started so that impacted my healing a lot.
 
Location
Ireland
God i've had it pretty easy in comparison to you so far. That's tough...a lot of surgeries in a short space of time.how are you now? Oh no i'm not pregnant but my belly is so swelled it could be mistaken for pregnancy!!!! ha ha sorry it does read like I said I was preg!! No chance yet for a while. did you have pregnancy and crohns?
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
Afidz has a special type of pregnancy lolo. ;) She's gonna give birth to her hernia soon. She was being facetious when she congratulated you on the pregnancy, more along the lines of, "welcome to the club." :p

Glad you're doing better. I know wound packing is gross but it'll be over soon. :)
 
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