New person here with a question

[melodyl]

There isn't much I can add that others haven't, but wanted to welcome you here and encourage you to get back to your dr. (or another dr.....even an emergency room if needed) soon. If you have a serious infection going on, hours between getting the right medical attention can make a big difference. Please let us know how you are doing and what your recovery is like. There are a lot of great people on this site with tons of information and compassion.

Melody

[Kathy]

I agree with everyone else, get it checked immediately. It looks infected to me. I am not a doctor, but if this were on my body, I would be at the ER asap. I don't think I would let the same dr operate on me. If he is in denial about what is going on, or made some mistake to cause this, I would be weary. His pride could be making him be in denial about the truth about this surgery. I am posting a picture of my incision 3 days post op, so you can have some comparison. My stitches were inside and the skin was glued.

Welcome to the site and sorry you have to be here. I was also in an accident with an 18 wheeler (he was loaded down with ree bar (sp?)) I was driving an 03 Nissan Altima and he came into my lane.

surgery 002.jpg

[Maria]

As mentioned it could be that unless it's broad spectrum and even if it is doesn't mean it's specific for whatever bacterial infection you have going on or another type of bacterial infection that can occur that is resistant to the medication you are using.

I take it you're not running a low grade fever and there is no oozing foul smelling material coming from the area or increased tenderness, redness or swelling. Still the continued bleeding is not right. Fresh blood I take it.

Even with the doctor seeing you on a weekly basis things can change quickly with regard to infections so it's important that you are asking questions and that if you feel there is a significant difference or problem that you seek attention most rapidly (immediately). Too much destruction to otherwise healthy healing tissue can occur and other big problems can follow so if you're very uncomfortable with what you're seeing/feeling seek attention before scheduled appointment.

The surgeon would want to salvage things ahead of time rather than run into further complications.

[Kathy]

This was on Oprah on Thursday, regarding flesh eating bacteria, check it out:

A Flesh-Eating Bacteria Changes One Woman's Life - Oprah.com

I don't want to scare you; but I want everyone to take this very seriously. My nephew had this bacteria last summer and had to repeadetly have his knee drained and fought it for months. He was lucky, he was able to get rid of it.

Symptoms include warm and tender skin, sores, boils, draining puss, redness, swelling and high fever. "If left untreated, it can destroy muscle tissue and lead to life-threatening infections in bones and vital organs," Dr. Oz says

[runner]

Syxx,

Infection can set in quickly. IMHO, I would just keep checking the site for signs and symptoms of infection.

Your doctor should have told you to look for increased redness, a feeling of the area being warm, colored drainage, other than fresh blood. I would also be aware of any swelling. Fever--even low grade.

If you feel uneasy about how it looks, I would just call the doctor and ask to be seen earlier.

Infection can be tunneled under the skin and actually be bigger than what it seems.

Did your doctor tell you it was infected? or did he put you on antibiotics as a preventive measure? A broad spectrum antibiotic may be enough to prevent infection but what people on here are aware of is that some bacteria are resistant to some antibiotics.

I would ask the doctor if he is going to debride the area (go in and clean up the site) or if he plans to take a culture and sensitivity test ,to see if anything is growing underneath your incision. When an area is cleaned out, a culture is usually done. This is all if he thinks you have an infection.

There is a lot of hype about flesh-eating bacteria, which is a kind of rare bacterial condition. We regularly have patients in the hospital fighting this kind of infection but it is still rare. Regular run-of-the-mill bacteria can also cause damage and destruction of tissue. What you want to avoid is a systemic infection which is commonly called "blood poisoning". This is sepsis, which means the bacteria get in your blood. This is the worse case scenario.

You have to go on how you feel and just keep monitoring for signs and symptoms of infection. If you feel like you are ill and you think your doctor is not responding to this, you could always go to an emergency room.

But it sounds like your doctor is monitoring what is going on. If you feel like he is not you could always get a second opinion or go to a primary doctor and get checked out.

By all means, don't get freaked out.

The lady who got necrotizing fasciitis or what the media call "flesh eating bacteria", had severe pain in her shoulder and it was expected that she had a shoulder injury. Her and the doctors didn't immediately make the connection of a small cut on her finger and her shoulder pain. She also didn't feel right either. She was very sick by the time they had figured out what she had.

It just goes to show you that you need to listen to your body and push for treatment if you think something is wrong.

This is all my opinion. I am not there looking at your incision so i cannot really tell what it looks like, feels like and how you really feel. I always think that it is ok to check something out if you have concerns. There is really no harm and if you had a serious infection, it could prevent an infection from making you really ill. I am a nurse, but I am not a medical doctor and I am certainly not there and I don't know all your history. As for the continued bleeding, it is possible you have a hematoma (collection of blood underneath the skin). But i have to stress, the best people to talk to about this are your surgeon or another medical doctor if your concerns are not addressed by the surgeon. I may be repetitive here but i had a procedure yesterday and I am still feeling the effects of the conscious sedation and taking pain pills, so I don't think I am thinking as clearly as I usually do.

I think if you are taking oral antibiotics for at least two to three days and it turns out that you do have an infection and you are not getting better than you need to see your doctor. If you are getting better, than that is good, but if you have an infection, you and your doctor still have to monitor the area/site/incision. Also if you do have an infection, a doctor may want to use intravenous antibiotics. These are all questions that you need to ask your doctor.

If you have any concerns i would not hesitate to contact your doctor. Be sure to have all your concerns addressed.

I think we have to personally advocate for our own health.

Runner