Hey all, Had an op on 01/02/2012, 20 1/2 weeks later it still hasnt healed, leaks/smells every day causes pain when/if i wear jeans, cant lay down on my back, and at time cant sit down. Am scheduled to have another op on wednesday, the rhomboid flap. Am meant to be in hospital for 3-5 days after. Not to nervous yet. Has anyone on here had this op? Ive googled it, and from the looks, the success rate looks quite good, based on a study done, but cant find it so, so hopefully it gets all sorted!!
Am now out of hospital! Must say the overall experience was good. The op went well, took around 1 1/2 hours. was told i would be in alot of pain after, so they gace me a morphine drip, but hardly used it, so they gave me a slow releasing pain killer every 12 hours. Generally no pain atall, the most pain was this morning, woke up and it was very sore Had a drain in for the whole time, hence reason for being in so long. Fingers crosses this surgery works! Had 35 stitches, thats gonna be fun when they have to be removed. Got signed off for 2 weeks, hopefully ill be fine after that!
welll 6/7 weeks later, had the stitches out 2 weeks after, majority were fine, but had a few down the crack area, all i can say to that is OUCH! Felt like fainting!! Been going to see local nurse 1/2 times a week, after about 4-5 weeks, the main wound was fully healed, but there was a bit in the crack that wouldnt heal, but nurse/doc wasnt too worried. On monday this week, it got soo sore, then tuesday it started leaking, Uh oh... luckily i was due to see consultant on wednesday. He had a look and was pushing around the wound, and it was leaking stuff outta the main wound, which he didnt know why, then he looked in the crack, and said there was about a 1cm but that is open and hairs starting to go in, grrrrrr, he wasnt too sure what to do next, said it may have to be another minor op to do an exicision and it should then close. Got another appointment booked for 7 weeks. Been looking through forum, and have seen Asha is a specialist so am going to contact her to see if we can book and appointment and/or get a second opinion. ahhhhh this just never ends!!
Update: So had my last op 27/06/2012, the rhomboid flap... Overall had around 1 month off work, went back, but it was still leaking slightly from bottom part of wound. but scarring was starting to go down colourwise. It was causing alot of problems, so managed to get a referreal to a localish private hopsital. He looked and said yes the issue is still there, but nothing that he can do, as im a slow healer :S, but offered an MRI scan to send to GP/Consultant, so they can see where all the tracts etc go. Day after saw the NHS consultant, he said that it still hasnt healed, and that it wont. the hole at the bottom still hasnt healed, and the top bit of the wound was overgranulating but it would continue to do it, as he beleived there was a sinus/tract going from top to bottom. He said he had gone as far as he was willing to go, and only other option was to see a plastic surgeon. After a few minutes he had a change of heart, and said that he'd be willing to do the rhomboid flap once again, follow the scars, open it up, clear it all out, and close it again, and hopefully that would stop it. Decided against seeing plastic surgeon, but agreed to have another op. In december. Since then had the MRI scan, my god how boring and how painful, as had to lay on my back for like 30minutes... Also the nurse at local surgery, cauterized (silver nitrate) the overgranulation part, thats gone down, but the line of scar going down has since swollen/puffed out, and has been leaking like a b@#$h since and has been rather painful, but have got to live with it atm. We tried to get our GP to do a referral to Asha, but she flat out refused saying she already did a referral to private, so wont do another referrel, would have to go to consultant to get a referral... This is really starting to get me down, its causing issues at work with sick leave, preventing me from doing things i enjoy, really painful sitting down at work/driving, and but guess ive just gotta get on with it and smile... Sorry for long post...
Hey JBF, Sounds like you're having a real time of it dude. My heart goes out to you. Did the MRI actually show anything that'd help them get the root of the recurrance issue? Bit odd that the private consultant didn't really offer much more info. They're usually a lot more chatty due to the fact you're paying them! I don't really know enough about it to say conclusively, but your GP maybe can't refer you to anyone else as you're technically under the care of the consultant now and as she said, they would have to refer you on. I know certainly when my wife was referred to a new consultant it was done by her old consultant, rather than us having to go back through our GP. As Roz (monster696) said in another thread, you can certainly go for a private consult in Portsmouth and still get referred back to the NHS for the op, if that's an option for you. Might be quicker and easier than dancing round your current consultant if you still want to see Ms. Senapati. I don't doubt that December feels a really long way away right now. This condition is such a bitch to deal with mentally (we've been having our own struggles with it getting both my wife and myself down). Particularly with the pressures of sick leave at work and your life essentially being on hold because you've got a weeping wound causing you pain. Are your work being some what understanding at least? I guess you just have to have a little faith that hopefully the re-romboid will get to the root of the problem and sort you out for good this time. Good luck, bud.
Thanks thorshammer, TBH we havent gone back to doctors yet to see results of MRI. The private hospital offered it, when saw the NHS consultant and mentioned it, he said it was pointless and wouldnt help atall... But yes the private doctor, peeled back top plaster for about 2 seconds, peeled back bottom plaster for the same, had a few push's around and walked away, so no more than 20seconds, and said yes its still then, but thats it... Great help... We called Ms Senapati's secretary, but she said you need a referral, so tried GP with no success, but we're concerned about going back to consultant and asking for a referral in case he thinks we dont trust him and then refuses to operate (if that makes sense) then im buggered. Maybe we're being to cautious, maybe were not. Yes it just gets in way of everything, stopped me going on 2 holidays, got a chance to go snowboarding, but have to say no! For the first op work was fine with, but for the 2nd and potential third, its becoming difficult... Last 2 days, its been the most painful it has been in a while. So might have to go and see docs to see if its infected or anything... but anyway, fingers crossed...
You know I'm really getting fed up with bloody GP"s. You are well within your rights to get a referral from our go to go see ms senapati. I read somewhere that you can get up to 4 gp referral letters so go n tell them u want a letter Don't worry Lisa's gp said I had put him in an akwad position when I asked for a referral letter. Ummm tell me why ? How I spend my hard earned cash is my business. Good luck mate, go n demand your rights. Defo Google it too so u can prove our point n if you can't find anything make a scene until they give u want you want.
So... a few months have passed! Had an op on 5th December, was thought they were re-opening the rhomboid flap, but they did a slit and left the wound open. was in hospital overnight, and then had the wound dressed on a daily basis, first two weeks by district nurse, then by practice nurse, to me that was fine, had no pain atall. After about two weeks the nurst realised i had around 5 stitches right in the crack (hospital consultants didnt say anything about these...), had to get 2-3 practices nurses to help get them out haha what a sight... but they were so painful coming out. Was off work for around 6 weeks. Theres been no problems/pain except the final bit of wound (sorta in the crack bit) not fully healing. Saw the consultant and all they keep saying is shave the area blah blah blah. which if you see my butt atm, is nearly impossible for me to do myself, so my dads been shaving as much as he can and me sticking the nose hair trimmer up there but still not good enough. i like to see them do it. Looked into having laser hair removal, but due to the open wound bit they wouldnt touch...grrrrrrr But comes to this week. all of a sudden its been quite sore, and noticed abit of blood on my bedsheet, tried to have a look in the mirror and it looked like a bit of a sore, so i put some sudocream on it this morning, which eased it, but trying to have another look, it looks like a spotty thing is coming up.... uh oh.... will get my dad to have a further look tonight, and maybe book doctors appointment. Thought it was going great, finally getting life back to what it was, slowly getting back to gym after getting a bit fat after lack of exercise for over a year, having 2 holidays booked in June, and then this.... Hopefully its just sore, and it will go, but otherwise, back to square one.
