Another Infection?

Yesterday, Dr. F removed one of the drains. I cried a lot, especially to his nurse, mostly because I saw the area under my armpit earlier that morning and saw the defect again. But the drain came out easily.

I then saw the wound care nurse - not my regular one - and she put a dressing on that supposedly wouldn't stick on the donor site on my leg. She changed the dressing under my armpit.

Today, I saw her again (my regular nurse is out of town). We found that the dressing she used did indeed stick some - but we irrigated it well to take off the dressing. It seems that where it drained, it crystallized the silicone on the dressing and that crystallized area stuck between the dressing and my skin. Ouch.

Also, this morning, I noticed that my drainage in the drain tube was cloudier. I showed it to the nurse and she felt that maybe that represented an infection deeper in the wound.

Great.

So, I will call Dr. F again so he can culture the fluid and/or the area in my armpit to check for infection. I finish my course of antibiotics tomorrow morning - and it looks like I'll have to continue it.

I'm trying not to think things like MRSA or any other major bug. I hope that's not the case. I'm hoping it's just evidence of necrotic tissue.

Sigh. I will let you know when I know.