Post Lap Help - Cleaning

[Tangoandmax]

Can someone please help me.

I’ve been discharged post lap without any cleaning instructions whatsoever. I have five incisions, belly button, two either side of lower abdomen and two either side just below my belly button where my ovaries have been suspended with stitches (which will need removing) in five days. I’ve been given no information on this either (helpful).

When should I be removing dressings for lap that took place yesterday? How do I go about cleaning them? Do you leave them uncovered once dressings have been removed? Should I leave the ovary stitches covered/alone. Should I just leave them all alone until I can reach someone helpful on Monday?

Don’t know what I’m doing. Trying not to stress. My discharge note says my care has been transferred back to GP but of course they don’t know. Given they have the same letter I do with nothing on it. 😭

[Pugparent]

Hi there👋🏻

I had a lap recently and the hospital I went to said I needed to keep the dressings on for 7 days post op then change them and keep them on for another 7 days. The hospital gave me spare dressings but advised me to keep the wounds dry. The dressings I had were waterproof so I could shower but not have a direct stream of water on the dressings so I had to have my back to the water.

I had dissolvable stitches but the ends hadn’t dissolved after I’d removed the dressings so I ended up going back to see the nurses. Once they were removed they were fine to wash as normal but I had trouble with getting my belly button incision to heal and it took 6 weeks to heal properly. I was dressing it myself for a few weeks as it was leaking🥴

I also got told to massage the scars twice a day with Vaseline.

I did go to a private hospital for my op so not sure what the nhs aftercare is like. Hope this helps!

[Kaita16]

I would give the ward where you had the surgery done a ring - there is usually a number on your discharge paperwork - it varies quite a lot based on the type of stitch, type of dressing, location

[Pacotj]

Ring the recovery ward of where you had your surgery because advice is different for each health board. For me I was told to remove dressings after 24hrs, then to just keep clean with water in a bath or shower, the idea of a shower hitting them when they were so raw turned my stomach so I had a really shallow plain bath daily (with the help of my partner) and bought my own dressings which I changed daily. However where I work in neurosurgery, unless the dressings are sodden, they have to remain on for 48 hours before removal and replacement so really just depends. They will also be able to tell you who to make an appointment with for your suture removal, usually it’s your practice nurse at your gp surgery, but you usually are required to make this appointment yourself. Just double check with your recovery ward 🙂 x

[Bellebell in reply to Pacotj]

agree with this, had 2 laps, most recently just over a month ago. Both times different and different stitches used by surgeons. Second time was not given advice so asked what I felt I needed to know. Personally, I would not remove anything or wet anything for at least 48 hours but am not a doctor. Maybe also contact your GP or call 111 (I did that the first time). Did the hospital not call you the day (or second day) after surgery? Because they did the second time as well and so I was able to ask more questions then... Strange that they gave no advice at all. Once you're better, might be worth making a complaint via the hospital PALS!

[Tangoandmax in reply to Bellebell]

Thanks for your response.

I’ve had no calls from anyone, when I rang the ward the woman said the nurse that discharged me wasn’t there so could only give me their general advice following gyne surgery. I’ve followed that but I’ll be ringing tomorrow as the BSGE gyne team are off over weekend. I’ve also emailed the consultant secretary. Just a bit perplexed to be honest, the admission/surgery team were so supportive/on the ball at admission. But everything from recovery onward was pretty terrible. It’s so hard, I could obviously see the strain they’re under but the level of care is obviously suffering due to it.

I was certain I didn’t want an overnight stay, my observations and incisions all were fine, I could eat/drink/use the toilet and walk. Not sure if they’ve just thought she wants to go so off you go. I came round about 12:30pm, was discharged around 8pm. The only thing she said was any issues with bleeding/swelling/incisions ring my GP. If not 111. Getting to speak to the GP quickly is easier said than done though isn’t it. Thankfully everything seems ok so far (op was Thursday) according to paperwork I need sutures removing on day five, will hopefully find out where/who is to do this tomorrow so I can get my questions answered x

[Bellebell in reply to Tangoandmax]

I think it is general practice to send patients home unless they need to stay in (usually due to anaesthesia or complications). Do try 111 if you have concerns, they can only tell you general information as they don't know the specifics, about dressing and dealing with the wounds. Also, as others have mentioned, be particularly careful with the belly button. Mine got infected the first time and right now it's taking longer to heal than the others. Good luck with your recovery!

[gardentink]

It’s honestly so frustrating the lack of aftercare.

Sorry you’ve got this worry on top of your recovery. I found that when I googled, I got different information depending on which hospital trust it was.

Something that helped me was booking to see the nurse at the GP, they were so helpful with letting me know about wound care and when I could have a bath again (I only had a bath at the time, no shower, and all the info was about showering)

The main thing is not to rub them, so pat dry, and try to keep the dressings from getting soaked

[Tangoandmax in reply to gardentink]

Thank you so much for responding.

I did ring the ward the lady wasn’t that helpful, just said to remove/replace if they’re bloody and blot clean without getting wet then recover. I’ve just done that for the time being. When I’ve figured out where I’m having stitches removed I’ll get them to do a full check and see what’s what.

I was a bit astounded though, literally just like there’s your meds off you go. It was a bit of a shock. All of it has been to be honest, didn’t at all think recovery would be this hard, deff went in naively.