Further Navel Maneuvers
I had my regular Friday date with Dr. Schwartz today. And YESSSSS!! The final drain came out. I would get up and dance but I am still a bit too sore for that. I was thoroughly, completely, and utterly sick of having a plastic appendage that had to be emptied twice a day.
In addition to taking out the drain, Dr. Schwartz also took out my belly button.
For those of you who have not been following along, I had an umbilical hernia that was fixed during the same surgery as the total hysterectomy. The hysterectomy incision, or at least the one that shows, is horizontal and pretty much goes from my left hip bone to my right along what would be a bikini line if I ever had the figure to wear a bikini. (I once did have a figure for a bikini, but I was five at the time.) There is another, interior incision that is vertical.
Fixing the hernia created a circular incision around my navel. When I first looked at this after surgery, my belly button was a rather ugly purple and there were black sutures around the incision. It looked like a hairy eyeball.
For the last two weeks, Dr. Schwartz has been telling me that it looked like my navel was healing from the inside out and that the surface skin of the navel itself might fall off. Last week, he removed the sutures, and for the past week, I have slathered Bacitracin on the wound and changed the dressing twice a day.
Today, Dr. Schwartz took a look at it and said that he was going to debride the wound. This is doctor talk for “remove dead tissue.” Lucky for me, the entire navel is numb, because it looked like he was pulling out a lot of stuff. He packed it into a little vial and said that he would be sending it out to be checked by a pathologist. What was left was a hole where my belly button used to be. This hole is about half an inch deep, or maybe even deeper. I have to pack it twice a day with gauze soaked in saline and cover that with a clean dressing.
By this time in my life, I should have a nursing degree. Dr. Schwartz asked me if I could do this myself and said that he could arrange for a nurse if I couldn't. I looked at him like he had two heads. Pack an open wound with wet gauze? Piffle. I had cleaned much bigger surgical wounds on Bernie and had no problems. I could do this. I am beginning to wonder just what I will blanche at. Setting my own fractured arm? Suturing closed a knife wound?
At what point do I turn into someone normal who runs screaming at the sight of blood?
In addition to taking out the drain, Dr. Schwartz also took out my belly button.
For those of you who have not been following along, I had an umbilical hernia that was fixed during the same surgery as the total hysterectomy. The hysterectomy incision, or at least the one that shows, is horizontal and pretty much goes from my left hip bone to my right along what would be a bikini line if I ever had the figure to wear a bikini. (I once did have a figure for a bikini, but I was five at the time.) There is another, interior incision that is vertical.
Fixing the hernia created a circular incision around my navel. When I first looked at this after surgery, my belly button was a rather ugly purple and there were black sutures around the incision. It looked like a hairy eyeball.
For the last two weeks, Dr. Schwartz has been telling me that it looked like my navel was healing from the inside out and that the surface skin of the navel itself might fall off. Last week, he removed the sutures, and for the past week, I have slathered Bacitracin on the wound and changed the dressing twice a day.
Today, Dr. Schwartz took a look at it and said that he was going to debride the wound. This is doctor talk for “remove dead tissue.” Lucky for me, the entire navel is numb, because it looked like he was pulling out a lot of stuff. He packed it into a little vial and said that he would be sending it out to be checked by a pathologist. What was left was a hole where my belly button used to be. This hole is about half an inch deep, or maybe even deeper. I have to pack it twice a day with gauze soaked in saline and cover that with a clean dressing.
By this time in my life, I should have a nursing degree. Dr. Schwartz asked me if I could do this myself and said that he could arrange for a nurse if I couldn't. I looked at him like he had two heads. Pack an open wound with wet gauze? Piffle. I had cleaned much bigger surgical wounds on Bernie and had no problems. I could do this. I am beginning to wonder just what I will blanche at. Setting my own fractured arm? Suturing closed a knife wound?
At what point do I turn into someone normal who runs screaming at the sight of blood?
posted by Valerie DeBenedette at 8:52 PM
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