Glued incision bleeding a little, is this normal? NHS 111 weren't much help

[Ella_BLue_]

Hi ladies,

Had my first lap yesterday, and oh boy, am I tired and in pain. They found and removed endo and adhesions and I am so happy to have some answers. I would like to tell you more, but am so very tired so going to focus on the query at hand for now:

Everything feels very painful and sore today, but generally I think my symptoms are normal(no fever etc) The only thing I've noticed is that one of my four incisions, the one on the left side of my tummy, appears to have had the glue rub off and has bled a little. It seems to have opened up a tiny bit, a couple of mm maybe, so that small spots of blood are appeared on my clothing, and now dressing. I haven't showered or anything yet.

My wonderful partner has been my rock the past 24 hours. He was concerned about my incision so he phoned NHS 111 on my behalf to check if it was ok to put a dressing on, but they gave him such a run around between operators and insisted on speaking to me to ensure that I was conscious (he was just trying to save me the stress and energy of having to talk to someone). After asking me a couple of questions they even then asked me if I was conscious!? So bizarre! They obviously have to follow a scripted procedure, but it just felt like they weren't listening and didn't understand our questions. In the end they put me on hold for a while, and then said it sounded fine and it was ok to put a dressing on, and that so long as it wasn't red, swollen or weeping I should be fine.

I just wanted to verify if this little bit of bleeding sounds normal to those of you out there who've been through this already? Or should I get the GP to check it out?

Overall I had a good experience at the hospital, but their instructions for wound care were a bit lacking, and NHS 111 didn't fill me with confidence.

Any help or input would be much appreciated!

[Ella_BLue_]

Thank you so much for your reply and the links Lindle! I thought it was probably normal but was in need of a bit of reassurance

They put a dressing on the cut below my belly button, and have instructed me not to remove that one for 3-4 days. They gave me extra waterproof dressings to put over the top of it to ensure I don't get it wet if I want to shower, but they suggested it might be tricky for me to not get it wet, and it might be best if I avoid showering for those 3-4 days to be safe. So I have washed myself down a little with a sponge, and will attempt a shower in another day or two I suppose.

The discharge process is a strange one, they didn't tell me or my partner much else about initial wound care. I was a bit exhausted and out of it to ask, and actually no one explained a single thing to my partner, he spent all day in the waiting room having no idea what was going on with me. He wasn't allowed to be with me on the ward at any point, I could have done with someone else there to properly take in everything the nurses said to me. Luckily at least the doctor came round twice to speak to me to ensure I knew what had happened during my laparoscopy.

Anyway, thank you very much again!

xxxx

[Ella_BLue_]

That's good to know, thank you for all your input. I haven't joined yet but I definitely will x