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Surgery complications - trapped liquid

Hello, has anyone had liquid trapped in the body cavity that won't come out? I had an ileostomy reversal on November and everything seemed to be going well until some real foul-smelling brown stuff began coming out of the wound. I went back to hospital and have been here two weeks while they try to get it out of me. Initially I was worried they would have to operate again, but now after all this time I wish they had, because the drain tubes they installed don't seem to be working. I'm feeling pretty helpless and there is nothing I can do but wait and endure this torture. Maybe that's too dramatic, but it doesn't seem like rocket science to suck this stuff out of me. One surgeon said it will re-absorb into my body, and I could go home soon, but now they want to insert larger tubes....
 
Hey Skinny..

I am sorry you are having complications with your surgery .. I hope it gets resolved without having to go through another surgery :(

I think that the doctors are avoiding taking you into another surgery is because usually when someone has an abdominal surgery .. It is best to try to avoid going through another one within a short time because it gets more complicated .. Right now they are trying the minimal invasive way of solving your problem .. I really hope it works and you get better soon :hug:
 
Hi Skinnyninny

This happened to me after my ileostomy surgery (maybe it's a BC thing??!). I had four drain tubes put in to try to get the surgical fluid out. It didn't work and they were considering going back in and getting it out, and the fluid started coming out of my wound. It was messy---everytime I would go to get up, the fluid would leak down my pelvis and legs. The drain tubes were then taken out.

I was given antibiotics because there was some kind of bacteria present in the fluids and I kept showing signs of infection. The important thing that they kept doing is CT scans to try to get an idea of whether the fluid was, in fact, decreasing. Once it started coming out of my wound, they decided to let it flow out through the wound rather than doing surgery. I was released to return home and initially, I had home nursing that would come to change the dressing, and then I started doing it myself, although they would come every day or every second day to take a look at the wound (the nurses were also monitoring the wound and measuring its size to make sure the wound was also healing). My surgeon would see me once a week while I was draining from my wound.

Hopefully, your doctor's have ordered CT scans to keep an eye on things. Drain tubes are both uncomfortable and can be painful.

I hope things improve soon!

Kismet
 
Hey Kismet, thanks for the reply.

Yep I had a steph infection and have been getting plenty of antibiotics. The stuff initially was coming out of the wound but that has now pretty much healed up. They have done a few CT scans and ultrasounds, but there is always a wait. I'm supposed to get another one on Friday, its a real pain having to wait around for that. At least I don't have that smelly stuff draining all over me, same thing as you. The thing that gets me is they are 'flushing' the drains with saline, meaning they inject about 20cc into the tube that goes into me, but nothing is coming out, so when they CT me again there will still be plenty of fluid in there! I don't get it. I need an attitude adjustment, it has been two weeks now and it gets discouraging. Oh well, I'm sure it could be worse. They said they might upsize the drains - again! yeah it is not pleasant. Guess I should be happy to not have the ileostomy any more. Should get better, right!?
 
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