It ’s been almost 11 months since my wound issues started and 11 weeks since my last operation to reopen the area with the aim of allowing it to heal fully.
A bit of background, whilst in hospital a post-surgery infection meant that some of the stitches in the Abdominoperineal Resection needed to be taken out prematurely. As a result, a wound near the perineum was created that just didn’t want to heal. At the end was a pilonidal sinus that pre-dated the surgery but was made worse due to the surgery. Combined with the other wound meant that both required daily packing and attracted numerous infections.
Surgery in September was required to reopen the area to create a new wound. A VAC dressing was then used for 3 weeks to help speed up the healing process – which it did.
Since taking the VAC off, I’ve still been having daily dressings although I’ve now managed to reduce them to 5 days and dress the wound myself on the weekends rather than using the services of a District Nurse.
Another Infection
In the past I’ve been pretty good at spotting an infection forming – usually by how I’m feeling – but around 9 weeks post-surgery one of my practice nurses decided to take a precautionary swab even though I hadn’t mentioned anything. Results of the swab showed that there was an infection there that required a course of antibiotics to treat. I felt fortunate to have a nurse that showed initiative and by catching it early it won’t effect the healing of the wound.
How Are Things Looking?
Progress is slow but by taking regular photographs I’ve been able to see good progress being made. It’s still doesn’t look nice and whilst it’s a lot smaller than it has been, it’s still doesn’t look nice.
I’ve been in regular contact with my wound specialist who is pleased with the progress, although she did say I needed to shave the Ken Butt to try and prevent any further infections. When I last saw her in the hospital 3 weeks ago she thought that the wound would heal in around 4 weeks but my surgery wasn’t so optimistic.
The pictures in the accordion below show the latest progress.
Wound Photos
Am I Running Yet?
Nope! Even though I could start running again, I don’t want any more setbacks so I’m still resisting (it’s hard, very hard!). I’m still walking regularly although a double long walk last weekend did cause irritation and minor discomfort around the wound which proved that it’s still unwise to consider running until fully healed.
What’s Next?
I’m estimating that it’s going to be early 2020 before it’s fully healed. I’ve got appointments into the New Year booked an I’m hoping that I won’t be having a 1 year anniversary at the surgery on January 29th!
