Umbilicus inflamed after lap

[Noodle1984]

I had a lap to remove stage 4 Endo from my rectum and bowels at the end of February and I’ve had nothing but troubles with my belly button. I had key hole surgery so the umbilicus was the main port. Ever since it has been swollen (almost outside my belly button and that’s a deep hole lol) and weeping non stop. It seriously looks like I have a tail growing out of my belly button. It has slowly, and I mean snail pace, gotten smaller and the seeping is less. I have had a swab to test for bacteria which was negative, I had a small polyp on the tip of it removed at about 8 weeks which was benign and just showed healthy healing tissue.

8 weeks ago my surgeon sent in a referral for an mri and the radiologist at the hospital said I need a ct and it’s not urgent. What this means is that I have to wait until all patients have been rebooked in from covid and then I’ll be at the bottom so I’m probably looking at 3-6 months. So I am wondering if anyone else has been 5+ months post op with an inflamed umbilicus.

One other interesting thing to note, that I forgot about until about 8 weeks ago is that approximately 4 years ago it swole up all the way out and was bleeding. This is making my surgeon think I may have Endo attached to my umbilicus from my previous Cholecystectomy key hole surgery.

[Moon_maiden]

Did the MRI show anything?

I’m not sure what to suggest, maybe a silver dressing to help heal the area so it stops weeping, something that would dry it up rather than anything moist. Sometimes nurses at surgeries are much better with wounds than doctors.

[Noodle1984 in reply to Moon_maiden]

I’ve been bumped to the bottom of the list for the ct scan so it will be 3-6 months before I can get the scan. Sadly they already tried to cauterize it with silver nitrate and it didn’t make any difference.

[Moon_maiden in reply to Noodle1984]

Have you tried Manuka honey? This can be good for wounds. You can get sterile dressing pads with it on. The surgery can get these easily. Might be worth asking. It’s not something that should be left.

Wound dressing is another thing that can be lacking in care. I’ve had to look after numerous wounds (not mine) and they’ve left me to it.