Alleviating incision discomfort after surgery

[enkaynj]

A couple of weeks ago I posted a note saying that even though my incision was healing, I had general discomfort that was preventing me from having a straight posture as I always had to be careful that my undershirts did not chafe on the incision spot. Eventually I found that if used surgical tape (3M durapore is one of them) to hold a rolled out cottonball over the incision, it made a huge difference. The reason I am posting this tip in pre-surgery is so you can ask your nurse / tech before you leave the hospital for some rolls of tape and any surgical cotton you can get your hands on.(You can always buy these at pharmacies or dept. stores later but who has the energy to do that immediately following the surgery!!).

 

[Lynlw]

A couple of weeks ago I posted a note saying that even though my incision was healing, I had general discomfort that was preventing me from having a straight posture as I always had to be careful that my undershirts did not chafe on the incision spot. Eventually I found that if used surgical tape (3M durapore is one of them) to hold a rolled out cottonball over the incision, it made a huge difference. The reason I am posting this tip in pre-surgery is so you can ask your nurse / tech before you leave the hospital for some rolls of tape and any surgical cotton you can get your hands on.(You can always buy these at pharmacies or dept. stores later but who has the energy to do that immediately following the surgery!!).

It's a good suggestion to ask, but many will tell you not to put anything on the incision and to keep it uncoverred, so I don' know if they'll give it to you. Another good thing to ask for when you are being discharged is if they have the wipes used to get off all the sticky adhesive left on you from tape bandaids electrodes. Many hospitals have something like the orange sol wipes http://www.orange-sol.com/miva/merc..._Code=OO&Product_Code=30039&Category_Code=MED but often for some reason they don't think about them unless you ask. They are a HUGE help in getting all the adhesive off easily with out alot of rubbing

 

[Mentu]

About five weeks after my AVR, my incisions were all healed and I was becoming much more active and just starting to drive. Over a period of a few days, the skin on my chest became hypersensitive. A circular area about 9" wide centered on my incision became so sensitive that a cotton tee shirt felt like sand paper and the new hair grow back felt like barbed wire. My family doctor said that the the brain must reintegrate the damaged nerves back into its network and as the tissues heal it can take awhile before sensation returns to normal. She had me gently wipe the skin of my chest with clothes of different textures for a few minutes several times a day and after about a month the sensitivity passed. With a sample of one, it is difficult to know whether the "desensitizing routine" worked or whether it just gave me something to do while my brain reestablished its connections. Even so, for most of the first year I needed my little puffy pillow while driving to keep the shoulder strap away from my chest. At two years, I still will have some sensitivity for a couple of days now and then so my blue pillow is still in the car; it has become a friend.

Larry

 

[epstns]

I don't know about all this. . . I'm 5.5 months post-op and still have large areas of my chest that are almost numb. I attribute it to the effect of having used my left internal mammary artery for a bypass. They told me that the left chest would be numb for some months until it re-vascularizes. What this doesn't explain is why the area immediately surrounding my incision is also numb. I guess this is another case of YMMV.

 

[Jkm7]

I was four years out from my first surgery and had that numbness surrounding my incision right up to the time I had second surgery. I'm not three years out from second surgery and still have that numbness. For some of us, it never goes away. I hardly ever think of it and barely notice anymore. Amazing what we can adjust to. Numb is far better than pain IMO

 

[epstns]

Jkm7 - I'll agree, numbness is a LOT better than some of the discomfort reported by others. It just feels strange. In my case, I think that's just the way it will be. I had another (much more minor) abdominal surgery 40 years ago and the skin is still numb along the incision scar from that one. So I"m not surprised that my new scar is that way, too.

 

[Laura]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! My surgery was 4 1/2 weeks ago and I've become VERY aware of how sensitive the area around my incision is. I think wearing undergarments has made it much worse. By the end of the day I feel like building a tent around my chest so that nothing touches it. I think this creepy, semi-painful feeling is bugging me more than anything! I like the pillow idea for he car. I hope I can find one that works.

 

[Greg a]

MAke sure that your clothes are rinsed in hot water to get all residual soaps out

 

[Lynlw]

I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! My surgery was 4 1/2 weeks ago and I've become VERY aware of how sensitive the area around my incision is. I think wearing undergarments has made it much worse. By the end of the day I feel like building a tent around my chest so that nothing touches it. I think this creepy, semi-painful feeling is bugging me more than anything! I like the pillow idea for he car. I hope I can find one that works.

Small pillows are good for alot of things post op, but for seatbelts another option, that some people(Justin does) find work even better for them, is getting one of those fleece,or sheepskin (real or fake) seatbelt covers that are like tubes that go around the seatbelt shoulder strap. Some find it gives them a little more mobility than a small pillow between the seatbelt and chest here is a link to one not where we got ours but it was the first one i just found googling http://www.amazon.com/Sheepskin-Seat-Belt-Shoulder-Pad-Grey/dp/B000CAINRK

 

[Laura]

That's awesome, thanks for the tip Lyn!

 

[Laura]

Okay, I will thanks Greg!

 

[drivetopless]

Post-op I safety pinned a gauze or paper towel to the inside of my shirt rather than to my chest and this helped keep pressure or rubbing from clothing off the incision. Your incision will weep a little for a while, so it also keeps your shirt from getting dirty while letting your incision breathe.

 

[Nancy jane]

I'm so new to this & before I found u all - all I had was the book PATIENTS GUide TO HEART VALVE SURGERY BY ADAM Pick It really helped. At the end of the book he shows a pix of THE INCISION SHIELD haven't checked it out yet but imagine its on line some where. Any one hear of it. Guards the incision. Hangs around your neck. ?