Not sure what to do...

I have about 2 inches now on my incision that is draining goop and red and painful to the touch. This is almost 1/3 of my incision. And my doctor keeps cancelling appointments and is out of town. I just keep it covered so it doesnt stick to my shirts. My doctor is doing a support group on Thursday night - should I corner her and force her to look at this nasty oozing thing? I go back to work tomorrow and don't know when else I can catch her!! Or should I just go to my PCP to find out if its infected? -Sherrie

Sherrie - I think it depends on what it is oozing, but I would DEMAND to be seen as it may be infected. You don't want a wound infection - seriously! If it's draining clear/yellow with a little bit of watery bloody discharge it might just be a seroma with nothing to worry about. If it is smelling or has any other color to it, you need to get in right away and not screw around with your stinking doctor. If you are unsure, call them up and tell them you think you have a wound infection and demand to be see by someone. I'll bet they perk up their ears at that..... Dina

OK - if it were me and my surgeon cancelled appointments and could not see me, I'd sure be in my PCP's office ASAP to have it looked at. One of my big fears while in the hospital was getting a staph infection. Now, not to scare you (REALLY!!), but staph infections are VERY serious - can cause death, so if you have an infection of any sort, get it looked at just in case! A guy I went to high school with went in to the emergency room w/ flu-like symptoms and he was admitted for dehydration, the next thing you know, he somehow got a staph infection and died within a week - just before Christmas. Again - I'm not trying to scare you, and this is probably just my paranoia talking here, but YOU need to take care of #1 because no one else will, so please, please, please go see your PCP, OK?!? Please let us know how it goes, Sherrie! -Wendy

Hello Sherrie , I am kind of having the same problem. My incision is drainging funk but it is not painfull. Sometimes the funk poors out i called my dr. i am pretty much calling the office every day i figure sooner or later they are going to get tired of me calling. They say that the draining is normal, some people only drain a little and it is hardly even noticed and some people drain alot and they need towels to keep it up. Icky. But they did say you want to watch out for infection, if it hurts, or if it is warm around the incision, or if you get a fever or if you get the chills you should contact your Dr right away. I would call someone Sherrie, be a pain in the butt, thats what i do, thats what they are there for.......

My incision is FIRE RED and HOT and goozing green stuff, and where the incision had healed it has turned black. I went and saw my PCP and she gave me a shot and 2 perscriptions. -Sherrie