Wound not fully healing -12 weeks post surgery

[Rainbowsafterrain]

Hi everyone,

I am after some advice/experience for my beautiful mom please.

She had full debalking surgery 12 weeks ago today due to stage 3C high grade serious ovarian cancer.

Shes had a CT scan today to see if she needs her 8th round of chemo next week but the her wound still hasn't healed fully.

The district nurses were coming out daily and they've dropped down to every other day now to dress the wound. We've had issues where there have been up to 3 ribbons inside when there shouldve been one. There is now tunneling.

The nurses put the gel in last week but that seems to have all come out now. We are getting mixed messages from the nurses about why this is happening and what the possible outcomes could be for mom.

Has anyone had this and can say it's just normal or is there any advice?

Thank you fo much for reading this long post. Xx

[Purplepansies54]

Dear Rainbowsafterrain

I am sorry to hear that your mums surgical wound is not healing and you now have “tunnelling”.

My wound did not heal well either although it was not as complicated as your mums. As well as a range of dressings I was advised to look at my nutrition and in the end I bought a protein supplement and my wound healed within a couple of weeks. This might have been coincidental but nutrition does play a part in wound healing.

I also saw a nurse who was a specialist in wound healing who made changes to the types of dressing being applied.

I hope your mums wound heals soon.

Regards

Gillian

[Rainbowsafterrain in reply to Purplepansies54]

Thank you for replying.

We are going to look into the nutrition supplements anything is worth a try.

The district nurse has tried a different dressing today so fingers crossed that helps too.

Xx

[ruthg55]

Hi Rainbowsafterrain,

Hope your Mum's wound starts healing very soon. I'm sure the wound specialist nurse will be doing everything. I'd also just like to suggest looking into nutrition (everything helps, right?). For the last two surgeries I had, I concentrated on pre & post surgery food to help with healing. Post surgery included Vit A (oranges, dark green veggies, carrots, kale, spinach); Vit C (berries, potatoes, melons, tomatoes); mushrooms; lean protein which provides collagen which plays important role in knitting tissue back together; beans; nuts; eggs; chicken; milk. I'm not sure to what extent that helps but it's worth a try too. All the best! Regards, Ruth

[Rosado22 in reply to ruthg55]

I would back this up too, similar to what I have been eating after both my surgeries this year. I also added in those protein drinks - including complan and fortisip sipped through a straw freshly chilled.

[meadowgirl]

Dear Rainbows

I am so sorry to hear that Mum is having issues with her wound. When you talk about ribbons in her wound, do you mean the packing that the nurses are using to absorb the discharge? If they are needing to use more packing, do you think that the wound is getting bigger? I used to be a district nurse, specialising in wound care and if I was concerned that a wound was not healing as it should, may ask for advice from a wound care specialist nurse, sometimes known as tissue viability nurses. Has Mum had an X-ray to check nothing has been left inside? I don’t want to worry you but I’m sure you want Mum to get healed quickly so that she can get on with treatment. It goes without saying that a good diet is essential but you could get vitamin C tablets with Zinc which should do no harm and may help. Protein is lost in wound discharge so make sure she is eating enough eggs, fish, or whatever she enjoys most. I shall be watching Mums progress with interest. She is fortunate to have you taking an interest and fighting her corner x

[Wooooo]

Hi, I had same surgery and ended up with a tunnel/deep hole. I was managed initially by practice nurses but then tissue viability nurses- these specialise in wound management. I had various gels and packing. I'm presuming they've swabbed regularly to check for infection? Mine took approximately 20 weeks to close then was very fragile looking for another month or so. I also ate lots of protein and ate well. It did feel like forever when dealing with everything else too!

[Kblaisel]

Do you have a wound care center near you with a hyperbaric chamber? This is what is prescribed for wounds that do not heal right away.

[3pups in reply to Kblaisel]

I replied below about my room not healing for months and yes I did a hyperbaric chamber and also saw an infectious disease doctor. Frustrating time Good luck, Tell your mom to hang in there.

[Rainbowsafterrain]

Thank you everyone for your kind replied, it's very appreciated.

The nurse that came out yesterday has tried a different dressing and way of inserting the gel and so far there hasn't been any leaks, so fingers crossed it works.

I'm off to the shops today to stock up on the foods suggested and hopefully that will help too.

We should know the results of the scan next Tuesday.

I will keep you posted, thank you again. Xx

[Realistic]

Good luck with your mums new dressings really hope they help her heal quickly. Thank goodness she's got you. Love Sheilaxxx

[3pups]

So sorry to hear, I had an issue with a wound healing during chemo and I was sent to a wound doctor. It took months but I finally healed about a week ago after experiencing the wound in April. It was very frustrating but chemo doesn't let you heal easily. I hope your mom is done with chemo and feeling better, I have the same cancer she does.

[Rainbowsafterrain in reply to 3pups]

Gosh, that's a long time for the healing but I'm so glad to hear you've got there now.

Im sorry to hear you have the same cancer, will know next week the outcome so really hoping and praying that the chemo has stopped now.

I hope you are doing well with your recovery xxx