How long were you kept after abscess surgery?

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KWalker

KWalker

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After doing some research and talking to a few people I think I'm developing another abscess, this time internal. I'm going to hopefully get in to see the doctor tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should try anti biotics first or if I should just discuss surgery. Here are my concerns:

-If I do get it drained I need to be completely knocked out because thanks to one doctor, I'll never allow them to freeze/lance/drain it in a doctors office again. I don't care how effective they say the freezing is.

-i just started at a new University and I REALLY do not want to take more time off school nor do I want to ruin my whole Christmas break trying to recover.

How long did it take you (not to recover) but to be released from the hospital after the surgery?

Oh, and if I do get in tomorrow it will be a new doctor and I plan to talk to him/her about going back on some sort of minor medicine again. I do not want to keep dealing with these stupid things

I appreciate all the help guys.
 
Hi KWalker,
Generally I have been sent home same day of draining even with being knocked out. Once I was kept 2 days after but I had a fever and other complications.

Good luck. Glad you are getting it taken care of right away.

-Barbara
 
The original cut was not big at all. The later cuts made it big, but that was issues with a fistula. Even then it is the size of an almond. Big to me but nothing like your big abscess was.
 
Oh. See I don't know what this is but my whole right "cheek" is swollen and hard. Some areas feel like paper cuts on top as well :(

I don't know what this could be but its really worrying me. I do NOT want a repeat of the last surgery :(
 
I've been flucuating between 98 and 101. This morning I actually feel somewhat better but I called and the doctor is making room for me at 11:20am so I'll hopefully have a better idea of what's going on. Its not really the hard part that's hurting but rather the spots that feel cut on top. As of right now, I have no idea what is wrong.
 
Mine was about the size of a kiwi (fruit, not the bird) when I went in to see my doc. After a couple of shots to numb up the area (I only barely felt the first one), he made a little X cut and the smell was fierce!

He didn't pack it, no seton, just let it drain on its own. That was early July and while it's still draining, it's doing well on its own, so we're going to leave it alone unless it starts causing some issues.

Not saying that's what will happen to you, but telling you what my doc did. Good luck!
 
I had surgery for an abscess back at the beginning of June. It was also in my butt cheek. It was super tender and hard as well. I got out of the hospital a couple hours after surgery. I was put under anesthetic and kept for the few hours for observation. I was out of it but came around. I took it easy the next day, and was back to work in 2 days. It was very uncomfortable, and I was on Atasol 30's for pain. I had 2 drains put in and they were there for a week. so happy when they came out!!!
 
I'm somewhat familiar with the surgery because of my first two but both times I was held for 5 days but they were HUGE! I had pictures posted for a little...but you wouldn't want to see them anyways lol. I had to get rid of them myself because I hated looking at it.

My fiancee's step-father had an abscess drained awhile ago and for his they just gave him a quick shot and then they just cut his on the table and he said it hurt quite a bit. This is how they did my first abscess drainage a few years ago as well.

I was not aware that that you could be knocked out and still go home the same day, but I guess that would depend on the severity. The doctor today gave me a 2 week supply of Cipro/Flagyl to try and tackle it and she's sending me back to my surgeon to get a second opinion and see if I need more surgery.

Hoping for the best!
 
Just a little update. My surgeon is squeezing me in at 2:45 this afternoon so we can figure out what's going on and whether or not I'll need surgery. There was actually lots of blood last night when I wiped (not like a hemorrhoid, more like a nosebleed) and I'm in quite a bit of pain right now so as much as I hates the thoughts of all this, I really need to get it figured out.

I will keep everyone updated
 
Is it perianal abscesses you suffer from, KWalker? If so, I left mine without doing anything and it eventually turned into a fistula, from my anus to the skin at my, ahem, rectum, was hella painful, but once I had a seton in there, if was a joyous time, lol, no more worrying about it abscessing over as it was constantly draining, by the end of the first month of surgery the drainage was so minimal all I had to do was put a bit of gauze down their and I be sorted for the day.

Best get it sorted out soon, because you don't want it to flare up later on in the year and you'll be in rut coming up to Xmas, good luck.
 
Hi. I had abscess marsupilisation done a few weeks ago, in that day surgery done then out the next. I opted for epidural rather than being knocked out. Healing took around 5 weeks.

Hope all goes well
 
I just got back from the surgeon. She is hands down the nicest, most caring surgeon I have ever dealt with. Unfortunately however when it ultimately comes down it I'm going to be having another surgery. Lucky #3 for abscess surgery for me and unlike most, these aren't pea, grape, etc sized. My last surgery consisted of two incisions and one incision was 7.5 inches. That's like...1000 peas? lol

This one is an internal abscess (the last two were external). She said as of now it's undetermined how deep she will have to go but if you were to cup your hand and touch it, the abscess would take up almost the whole hand size.( wish I was exaggerating) She said the odds of ever having to cut something to that extent is slim to none and they could just make an incision and force the junk out and some of the size could be contributed by swelling due to the infection and it might not even be part of the abscess but as of now, it's undetermined.

Although surgery isn't 100%, we both agreed it's essentially the best idea. I have my two week course of flagyl of cipro that I started yesterday and she just gave me a nice large prescription for percocets (praise the lord!) and I have to report back to her on Thursday. If there are no signs of improvement by Thursday than surgery it is. Unfortunately her next open surgery availability is not until Monday so she said I do have the option to go in to ER and another surgeon can do the operation but I think she is such an amazing surgeon that to me I would put up with the pain to wait so I could have her do it. She's done my first two, helped me out with everything and always made herself available, even after hours. Not to mention, I also have the percocets now so pain levels will go way down.
 
Thanks, I will keep everyone updated. I was actually just getting dressed and ready for school and the internal abscess has now came through the skin and is a rather large lump so I will not be going to class because if it pops while in class it would be a huge mess. I have an appointment today with my disability officer at the school at 2:30 where I'll be telling her that I'm going to need time off school to get this taken care of. I have the percocets and it's actually not very sore right now but I know it's going to pop anytime.

I'm actually happy that it's not external because we will be able to see where to make the incision. The surgeon and I were nervous thinking it was internal. It's not as large of a mass now but now it is coming out through the skin like I said and it's about the size of a kiwi. I could probably honestly sit in the bath tub and it pop in there.
 
Okay I need some opinions. As I said above this has now became external. I started the Cipro and Flagyl a few days ago and now all of a sudden the abscess is coming up. Is it a coincidence or is maybe the medicine working? My fever is also gone and I feel significantly better as well. Right now I'm also getting a significant amount of drainage as well.

Is it possible that I might not need surgery and that the medication might be enough?

Also, as I said too my fever is gone. My temperature is now fluctuating between as low as 104.5 and 107 but I feel like it's hot in my apartment I'm sweaty. Am I going too low now? Is that something you'd worry about or no? I have a funny feeling in my head right now but I'm almost positive that it's from the percocets. I'll keep an eye on that once they wear off and see how it is. I am in no pain whatsoever right now though. I'm going to go for a small walk to the dollar store to get out of the house and see how my temp. looks when I get back
 
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Wow! I think I just dodged a bullet! I went for a walk to get out of the house and see how my temp would be when I got back I felt like my underwear were wet. Well they were and covered in pus/blood. It popped and is currently draining like crazy. I immediately called the surgeon to make sure everything was okay and I wanted to ask if she thought I could have sepsis because of my low temps. She said that the home thermometers aren't completely reliable for low temps as they're designed to show small fevers. She said I would know if I had sepsis as I would feel like I'm dying, but to keep an eye on it.

She also said that we won't need to do surgery if it's draining which is good! The size has gone completely down and I feel 100% better down there. I feel really funny though for some reason
 
Me too! I hope it just continues to drain. I can feel a few spots are still hard so I might go in the bath and just apply pressure. Are there any ways to induce draining? -didnt think I'd ever say that before lol
 
I've been using a heating pad for pain it popped and it almost made it feel like it was burning it..even on low. I don't know if maybe it was coming to the top so it was more sensitive or not but it made things much more sore to sit on the hot pad for me. I'm so excited to hopefully finally sleep tonight!
 
I might have spoke too soon. When I just woke up to do a mid-night pee, feeling better I thought I'd touch it and see how it feels. Its a bit sore and the stuff on the bottom still feels hard as if that didn't drain with the rest of it. I'm going to take a bath to see if I can loosen it up a little and then apply pressure but I guess I might still have this surgery... Unless you guys don't think I gave it long enough to fully drain and think I should wait still.

What would you do? If you knew it was 95% better, but still sore in some spots would you still ask for surgery or give it more time to try and drain? I woke up to another pair of underwear covered in blood/pus so there's definitely heavy draining
 
KWalker I would still have the surgery. I had mine burst twice & was draining on its own. Was so embarrassing when it burst on my way in to work. I thought for sure It had all gone then back it came so In I went for my surgery & the oh relief afterwards.
I think I have another starting now but I have just started on AZA so could do with leaving off the strong antibiotics.
I hope all goes well for you & you don't have to miss too much school.
Keep us updated.
 
Well it's not really up to me as to whether or not I have the surgery. As today goes on it is continually draining quite significantly and feeling better as the draining and time goes on. It has also gone down quite a bit in size including the hardness that I wasn't sure whether it would or not. I'm also on antibiotics (cipro and flagyl) for it.

Surgery isn't my first choice being in my situation with school right now and not wanting to throw that away but I would obviously do it if need be. I think when I talk to the surgeon she'll sugest holding off for another week or so and seeing how it progress to determine whether or not surgery is needed.
 
so I called my surgeon and she said because I'm doing so well and draining as much as I am that she wants to hold off and she said to keep an eye on it over the weekend and to give her a call on Tuesday to let her know how I'm doing.

I honestly feel so much better. I haven't taken anything for pain since I woke up this morning. I have to wear female pads and I change them every few hours because they are literally covered(!!) with blood and pus.
 
Before my fistula formed, I had two abscesses that popped on their own, they weren't big and I wasn't running a fever so I didn't say anything, stupidly enough, around September 2010 and another one in November 2010, then, around January 2011 I had another one, I was thinking, here we go again, and when I examined it, I noticed the smallest of openings, right then and there I knew it was a fistula, so I had to go to hospital, basically, the reason I was having constant abscesses was because a fistula was forming and I left it for so long it got worse.

Regarding surgery, I was hospital on the Thursday night, surgery on Friday afternoon and back home on the Sunday.

Hopefully it nots a fistula as that's why I had to start Humira, as my doctor told me it would do constant damage to the tissue over a long period without medical intervention, although the seton was doing just fine, lol.

Anyway, good luck.
 
Sorry I'm so late with this post. I had an abscess that was quite deep and when clear to my spine without actually perforating the spinal column. The doctor drained in in the office and that was easily some of the worst pain I've ever experienced-I would never just have Lidocaine (sp?) again.

I soaked mine in a bath of 2 cups Epsom salts in the hottest water I could stand up to four times a day. It took over a week to stop draining, then they went in and reemed it out, which was virtually painless after the infection was drained. I stayed on Cipro and Flagyl for six weeks; I was on Methotrexate at the time, so maybe she was just being careful.

I recovered great but that was a deal-breaker; I started Remicade soon after, I just couldn't deal with it anymore.

My doc had me swab it with Neosporin or Bactrin antibiotic cream in addition to regularly changing the pads you're using, sounds like you're already doing OK with that. Also Calmoseptine will pull more pus out later, I didn't use it for the initial drainage, but after it slowed down.

Have your girl give you lots of extra TLC. I feel for you Buddy, no wonder you needed info on the Percocet-ugh my heart breaks for you. So glad to hear to are feeling so much better now!:hug:

:getwell:
 
The fact that the hardness has gone is a good sign as every time mine had drained I seemed to have a little bit of hardness left. I had my surgery on the friday & was back at work on monday but I only work part time & that helped.
 
Thanks for the replies.

IAmTheWalrus- I'm not leaving it untreated. I'm taking both Cipro and Flagyl currently to try and drain it by itself because of the fact that it did pop and I'm having daily conversations with my surgeon to keep her updated with progress. I was set to have surgery on Monday until it popped a few days ago so the surgeon wants to see what we can do without surgery. Neither one of us want to go through the surgery with it again as I had a lot of complications the first time with a different abscess.

Mountaingem- I know what you mean with the pain. The reason I left my first abscess for the 3 years that I did was because I originally had it drained in the doctors office with the weakest little numbing ever and it just totally ruined everything for me as far as letting them do that again. I've been taking very hot baths with epsom salt still 3-4 times a day even though the pain has gone down significantly as I do want to make sure the skin remains soft so it can drain as much as it can on it's own.

I was using Anusol (mainly a hemorrhoid cream) on it awhile ago for the what felt like cuts on top as it's said to help numb the area. However, it did NOT work and instead just made things worse because I was now touching the area and irritating it more. Yes, that's why I need the percocets lol. I'm taking them right now. Mainly before bed and again when I wake up in the morning but today I have to take 2 before I go because I'm going to try and go to school for an important lecture today and don't want it hurting.

It was basically a combination of this new abscess and your post about the loss of your friend which made me decide I need to get back on some medicine to get this disease under control so I don't continue having problems.

Kip1- The hardness is almost all gone. Much smaller than it was initially. I thought it was completely gone but I found some this morning when I was kind of going over the area to see where things were at. What happened with the left-over hardness you had after yours drained? Is it still there today and does it hurt?
 
It stayed when it drained on its own but when I had the surgery they removed like a hard gristle like mass (could have been scar tissue from previous infections). It had been swelling up then going down with antibiotics several times before it drained. then I thought it had gone but it came back up then drained again. The surgeon saw me & gave me 2 more weeks of antibiotics then went it was a little smaller they removed the hard lump then cleaned out the area. I was glad it wasn't swollen at the time as it would have been a bigger scar & longer recovery time.
I too have just started meds after bowel surgery, having previously been med free & the abscesses were the main reason for my decision.
 
ah ok. Then I guess if this doesn't completely go away then I might require surgery for it but I have the antibiotics for 2 weeks so I'll have to see how that goes. If it weren't for the abscesses I would have no reason to need medicine right now either but after talking to the surgeon she said if I stayed med free they would just keep coming back and I don't want that.

Have you thought about what medicine you want to go on?
 
Started on 100 mg aza or imuran 2 weeks ago. the nausea is taking some getting used to but other than that Im ok.
I had some T I removed on the 31st July so effectively crohns free in my tummy but its active around my butt & I also had an abscess inside my butt earlier this year. This came up & burst twice in the space of a month so I did not want a repeat of that. I just had them externally before so that was new for me.
I have been told It can take up to 3 months for aza to work so fingers crossed.
What about you? Have they discussed any meds suitable for you?
 
ah, yeah I don't feel comfortable taking Imuran but I hope it works for you. I'm actually waiting to see a new G.I. as my current one is a huge asshole and so far the soonest I can get in is January 13, 2013 because I'm considered a new patient. As much as I'm not having crohn's symptoms and I could essentially wait that time, I just don't want the problems with abscesses continuing. I'm currently not sure what medicine I'd like. My first choice is LDN though. I just want something safe that doesn't cause problems now, down the road, or problems with fertility. My fav. drug I took was the methotrexate injections because I feel they were the most effective for me but I've read from many (reputable) sources that it can greatly effect fertility and birth defects. While I'm not looking to get my fiancee pregnant anytime soon I don't want that to be compromised when the time comes
 
I think you are being really sensible with your choices. Whilst we can sometimes only think about the here & now we have to also consider our future. Your love & thoughtfulness in regards to your fiancee is lovely. You are a great couple.
My girls are going on 17 & 21 so I don't have to worry about fertility issues anymore but it would have been something that would have put me off stronger meds.
My mum also had issues with Imuran & ended up with leukopenia so that made me think twice about it but I am assured that I am a good candidate for this drug due to having a good TPMT count & it was many years ago when she went on it so things have moved on since then. I wanted to avoid steroids & I wasn't given many options really.
I hope whatever you decide to take works well for you & enables you to stay well enough to keep up with your studies & live life to the full.
What really stinks is the amount of time you have to wait to see the new G.I.
I thought our NHS waiting lists were bad enough. I hope your primary care physician is a good & understands all your issues with Crohns.
 

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