Swollen tummy where the bruising/wound sites are

After 3 weeks I think stitches, dressings, glue etc should all have dissolved/been removed. I think you should chase up this glue issue firmly. It is certainly not right that you are having a reaction after this time. And very poor that they ignored your stated allergic issues. I had it written at the top of my hospital notes that I was allergic to codeine (I'd had a terrible reaction when in hospital after my hip replacement the previous year and had been given it automatically just post op) and yet they tried to discharge me with a codeine based strong painkiller. Only my own vigilance ensured I got an alternative to go away with.. that I then needed to take for the next two weeks as I was in a lot of pain. And I am a stoic who takes very few painkillers ever and on no other meds in life til then! WE have to very firmly and politely advocate for ourselves these days..!

Thanks, Tilly! 

I am back having seen the nurse who at once said it did look like an allergic reaction. I explained that because I don't put these new-fangled things on my skin but have used normal elastoplast all my life, my skin probably doesn't like these things! Not sure what the glue was but I found something online, think it was dermabond and the list of ingredients was long and totally unpronounceable!! I can't cope with even things like household cleaners or air sprays because I haven't used them in decades so have become sensitive to them if I use them now - so I figure it's the same with certain dressings. Yes I usually do advocate for myself - I know my own body better than any doctor, because the days of the "family doctor" went decades ago. 

It didn't occur to me nor apparently to any medics that "allergic to dressing glue" could include surgical glue. However, now I know, next time (hopefully I will never have a next time!) I will emphasise that they can only use what I know I am not allergic to - if I have to take a box of plaster strips to the hospital myself!!!!

Anyway - nurse took all the glue off!! It was barely painful, although now I am quite sore in a couple of the places. But that shall pass. She recommended hydrocortisone cream for two weeks for the itching, and something called Bio-Oil for use after the two weeks, and for as long as I want, as apparently it's good for scars as they start to heal. (Was very expensive! but worth a try) 

I feel so much relief now!! The one place in my waistline that wasn't itching anyway, she couldn't quite get all the glue off as she said it was tangled up with a stitch. (So if they have to put stitches in anyway, why oh why did they glue me as well!!?? I always thought it was either or!) It will disintegrate in time. I can get my surgeon to look at that at my 6-week follow-up. I've put my own plaster on the two sore places as one was feeling like it was rubbing as I cam back.

So now I'm at last very comfortable and can get on with my life and with my healing!! I know from last time, that once the irritant is gone from my skin, the reaction will settle within a day or two.

I too rarely take painkillers or meds...I prefer to treat the natural way wherever possible, so I came off the paracetamol after about a week I think, and have been taking my turmeric and pepper tablets instead. Tried paracetamol a couple of times since for this itching and the tummy swelling but it didn't do much good so I came off it again. I do use Fibrogel still but that's a very natural plant-based remedy. They gave me Movicol last time, and apart from not working, it ended up making me physically sick.

I know what works for me and what doesn't. I hope to keep off any meds as long as possible. There are so many ways to remedy a lot of ailments naturally, such as by managing diet. I don't even dwell on maybe having to take things like chemo in the future (it's not in my future yet, so I see no point in thinking about that as it may never even happen) but for daily purposes, the fewer chemicals I can subject my body to when there exist natural remedies, the better!

I read that Vitamin E is good for scarring - ie, helps lessen scarring. But does anyone know whether you ingest it or rub it on??

That is great news. Yes bio-oil is supposed to be good for scars I hear.  I was not recommended anything at all. I had zero after-care apart from my 4 week chat with the surgeon who said it had gone well!! Since then I have had to chase and peesist and insist re getting my ongoing issues taken serioysly. Resorted to a private GP in the end who was brilliant but I can't afford her too often! Very glad you are feeling so much better scar wise! I still getxweird stabbing pains and am still numb all around my rump that side.. although my 4 small and one big scar healed perfectly and quickly with no issues. Nerves reawakening apparently .. so don't be surprised by any new sensations occurring! It is a strange and unpredictable journey we are on..

I am not getting a four-week follow-up but a six-week one. Three more weeks seemed an unbearable time to wait with this itching and this glue! Tbh with the rash I had, I wouldn't even have fancied waiting one more week. 

The nurse said my incisions looked like they were healing well. That was reassuring, even though they look a bit livid to me now the glue is off and they are visible.

I wouldn't know where to start with finding a private GP! But I had hoped that the after care this time would be better than the after-care of my hysterectomy - and am disappointed to find that it isn't.

I have a gynae follow up tomorrow for that. It's two years this month. I was on a plan to have three-monthly check ups for a year then four monthly for another year then six monthly for another two years. Somewhere along the line after my July 2024 one which was still within the three-monthly, it was then to go to six monthly not four monthly and worse, the next one was to be a phone follow up. I said, how can a nurse on the phone look inside me and confirm that all feels and looks well? He indicated because he deems me low risk, this is the way it has to be. So my January one didn't happen, by which time I was getting psyched up for the kidney surgery. Last week I decided I was ready to chase up where my January telephone call had got to. The secretary apologised and said they have been very busy!!!!!

She booked me in however and it's tomorrow morning by phone, three months late and nine months after I was last seen, and only two years since my diagnosis and surgery for that. The surgeon's benchmark seems to be that if it recurs I will know because I will get bleeding or spotting again. But what if I don't have that symptom but it's still recurring? Doesn't exactly fill me with confidence!! - and I can only hope that the surgeon, who is said to be a very good one, did get everything out as he believed he had. I don't see the point of a phone call for me to tell her I am not bleeding and her to say, ok bye bye speak to you again by phone in six months/a year!!

Thanks for the heads-up about the delayed symptoms! I had read something about nerves re-awakening. I have a high pain threshhold for most pain so perhaps I won't feel it too much if and when that happens to me. 

My incisions healed very well and quickly after my hysterectomy. But this time it's not quite as smooth. I think the glue not coming off hasn't helped. Hopefully now I can actually see the incisions I can start to practise good wound care finally.

Just had a revelation! Googling surgical glues, I have discovered that some of them contain formaldehyde!!! No idea which one they used on me but if it was one of those, that would explain a lot, as I am allergic to formaldehyde. John used to clean his toilet on Sundays when I was at his, with a cleaner containing formaldehyde, and I had to get out of the house for an hour in the end as the fumes gave me reactions on my lips and in my throat. I don't tolerate strong, or indeed any, such chemicals as I haven't used them myself for nearly 40 years so now if I come across them, my body is over-sensitive to them. Definitely packing my own tried and tested dressings if ever there's a Next Time!! 

Yesterday was bad. My main incision was being rubbed sore all day. I tried covering it but my clothes rubbed the dressing and the dressing rubbed the incision!! I have also had to stop the hydrocortisone after just three applications. I have used this in the past with no problems but have realised that this time I am getting a reaction to the cream for the first ti me ever!! Maybe because my skin is not only sensitive now but damaged as in, the incision. I was careful to put the cream around the incisions but not on them. However, by last night all the areas I had creamed were inflamed and red, although slightly less itchy. The area around my main incision was becoming frighteningly puffy, bubbling and swollen. I went to bed planning on ringing the GP again first thing.

When I got up, I had no pain at all in my incision - that tends to come on after I start moving around. It's soreness rather than pain, and tender to touch. None of that at all until I actually started moving out of bed. The redness from last night was more pink and the puffiness had largely gone. 

However, I now know for sure it's the cream exacerbating this as the spots of the rash next to the bottom hole have spread out now to the extent that I smeared the cream, plus where I had a bit on my finger and wiped it on the top of my thigh, there are now the same spots there also!!! Spots not terribly itchy so tolerable, unlike when the glue was on.

So I'll ring the GP this morn and report this, and ask if a nurse can ring me back to suggest what I can put on instead to eliminate the itching and spots caused by the cream to eliminate the itching and spots!!!

I never had this problem with my previous surgery! I am putting it all down to that glue they used! but I'm also wondering if I could be allergic to whatever is in the stitches too as even without the glue and without the cream, the rash is still there around every incision now. 

I think I would try applying nothing on the skin for a while.. except maybe an ice packs or whatever helps to soothe.

I'm not putting a thing on atm!! Got an appointment with a GP at 3.20pm (they "emergency triaged" me again!) so I'll see what she says. I have a list of questions to ask her, such as whether I can use vaseline or normal E45 cream, if this swelling is normal, and some other things. I'm really worried this reaction will delay the incisions healing...that said, I am very encouraged to see that a bit at one end of my long incision is already showing up as a scar (the scabbing is coming off) and those three millimetres or so are looking very healthy! But I don't want to take chances with this allergic whatever it is, which surely isn't going to help the healing incisions very much. Hopefully this time the medic can reassure me and I can get some relief from this soreness and itching. 

In every other way, I'm feeling great! It's like, if someone could take my whole abdominal area out of the equation, I would look and feel completely healed! Never expected this incision problem, as last time my holes were pretty much all healed by this stage. I am still cursing that glue they put on me!!

Still having incision problems!! - or more precisely, allergic reaction problems. Doctor on Thursday prescribed Epimax to calm the rash created by the steroid cream which was to calm the rash created by the surgical glue!!!

Now the Epimax is creating issues too. I read the label and it says it's got paraffin and all kinds of nasties in it. So now I'm off that too, as it's making the big spotty rash worse and the incisions more read around the edges. I'm going to let it settle for a few days - the itchiness isn't unbearable, but the red rash of spots worries me as I don't know how long it will remain but reading up on it, says reactions like this can take 2-4 weeks to die down after removal of the irritant. At this rate I will be going back to work still spotty 

I'm massaging all incisions except the spotty itchy one, gently which helps ease the discomfort and will help with long-term scar benefits. Long incision is till quite sore - has become so over the last week or so, but that could be the muscles underneath starting to heal, and the nerve endings deep within repairing themselves. The discomfort extends to my belly button which is odd as he's not supposed to have used that at all as a way in...I can only think that the long incision, which is fairly close to that area, has disturbed the tissue from my hysterectomy two years ago, as it has never felt 100% "right" in that area since. It's like it's revived what went on there, so I'm now also back to massaging my belly button too! 

I may try my trusty E45 cream that I used successfully after that surgery. However, I'll let the redness caused by the Epimax calm down a bit first - already starting to calm, as I haven't applied it since last night. I might try a cold compress on the sore itchy areas. If that doesn't help, I'll wait until my skin can tolerate the E45 cream again. Never had anything like this problem after my hysterectomy, and I'm getting fed up with it! I put it all down to that darn glue!!

I am nearly out of paracetamol but it doesn't help anyway with the soreness and the rash, and I have no pain as such, just this gnawing soreness in the main incision. My cetirizine tablets don't really help which isn't surprising as they are designed for hayfever, not for foreign-substance induced skin allergy!! 

Ah well - if this is the worst it gets, I should be thankful. There'll be an end to it at some stage. I may just have to go back to work with a sore belly. I am seeing the consultant the day before I am due back, so will see what he says if it is still troublesome - that's in two and a half weeks. 

What a marathon for you! I have had different ongoing problems with fluid retention, swelling and abdominal pain. At last after 5 months I am almost feeling normal.. apart from the fluid retention spreading down my legs.. a bit alarming. Off for some manual lymphatic drainage.We will get there eventually!