Little Problem in Incision

[noel]

Noel has had a recurring irritation in the upper portion of his incision and finally contracted a staph infection. Our Internist had run a culture last Friday. We saw Dr. McGiffin yesterday....he will be doing some one-day surgery on Thursday. He is taking Lovenox injection twice a day in lieu of coumadin until surgery...he injects those himself into his abdomen. Dr. McGiffin is going in and remove a wire that he thinks may have been causing the problem to begin with. Noel has been on Doxycycline for about 5 days now and has 5 more to go plus a Mupirocin Ointment USP. Otherwise he feel good and is still doing well. Dr. McGiffin said his valves sounded really good.

 

[Mary]

Robbie,
I'm glad you posted this so others could see it. We have a pretty fair number of members who have trouble with the incision healing, and the threat of getting a staph infection is real.
In my case, I had been home one night and coughed too hard. The bottom of mine, near the chest tubes holes, started bleeding. I suffered through that for several weeks . . . I would think it was healed, then I would over-do, and it would start to bleed again. I was afraid it would get infected, but thankfully, it didn't.
I'll keep Noel in my prayers this Thursday and hope that Dr. McGiffin finds the pesky wire responsible!

 

[Karlynn]

So sorry to read that Noel is having this problem. I hope the procedure goes well. Keep us posted.

 

[Nan]

So sorry that Noel is having to go through this. Sounds like his (and your) spirits are high, so that must help you.

Seems like those wires do cause problems for some folks. Too bad it had to progress to a staph infection.

Hope all goes well on Thursday. Will be thinking of you.

 

[Ross]

Not good. Let's pray the staph doesn't set up shop on the valves. I'm surprised they don't have him back in the hospital on IV antibiotics. Perhaps it's a mild form of staph?

 

[noel]

Not good. Let's pray the staph doesn't set up shop on the valves. I'm surprised they don't have him back in the hospital on IV antibiotics. Perhaps it's a mild form of staph?

I know that our doctor here faxed Dr. McGiffin the report...so I know he knew about it and that may be why he didn't seem to alarmed. His NP that came in first didn't even think he would go in...the antibiotic was started early and Dr. McGiffin was advised same day and said that was the right thing to do....so lets hope it has not gone any further...he feels fine....no fever or anything like that.

 

[aussigal]

Like Mary said...I'm glad you posted...
We get quite a few reports from scars that have little spots that arent healing as well. I am very glad you didnt waste time in getting medical attention...
good luck with the healing and wire removal.

 

[StretchL]

Robbie, I'm so sorry to hear about Noel's infection. Hopefully it was caught early and it will clear up.

Please do keep us updated.

You'll both be in my prayers.