Back to the Hospital Tomorrow... my tips and advice

Infections
1

Evening,

Been reading other people's accounts on this site over the last few months and thought I'd post my experiences in the hope that it helps some others.

I'm a 28 year old male and I had an op in Sept 2008. Had a boil flare up on a regular basis every couple of months and it got to the point where they started to burst themselves.

When I went in for the op whilst I was under they found a second sinus at the top of my butt crack. That one turned out to be an even bigger wound. I wasn't given any clear information at the hospital about my after care and STRONGLY advise anyone going in for an op to ask exactly what you need to do once you leave the hospital. Should you get the district nurse in on weekends, should you be seeing your practice nurse for daily packings, before you go in for the op you might want to make a block booking with your practice nurse for daily dressings (if that is needed).

I had the op on a Friday and was pretty much just sent on my way with some pain killers and a couple of pads to put inside my boxer shorts. I was very worried about the wounds on Monday as I had 2 gaping holes in my Butt that I couldn't see myself (mobile phone camera comes in very handy). So I saw my GP and practice nurse and straight away said I needed packing and daily dressings. Very frustrated with the lack of info from the surgeon really wasn't prepared for what was to follow.

I had 9 weeks off work. They were packing 25cms into my top wound every day to start with, and the lower wound was more of a disc shape about the same size as a £2 coin and probably just a little bit deeper. Nurses looked after me well and I would recommend the Aquacel for packing rather than Sorbsan. Take your pain killers about an hour before the packing. You'll find after a few weeks you get very used to the sensation of the packing and it's not as raw and tender.

I had some over granulation and the doctor cauterized the wound. He just did it there and then so I didn't have any pain killers on that occassion and it stung like ■■■■! So if you ever need that try and have some ibuprofen handy!

I had some infections and some green discharge, a little bit of a whiff as well in one wound. I got through 13 prescriptions over 3 months and I signed up for the Pre Pay Prescription thing (ask your pharmacist). For 3 months cover you pay £28 and then you can have as many prescriptions as you like in that period and you don't pay for them.

I was getting through loads of dressings, packing and antibiotics so you'll save a fortune!

Stay off the wound as much as you can, I did an awful lot of standing and lying down!

As I had my top wound just below my cocyx I bought a cocyx cushion that I use at work. Has helped a lot.

I think it's important to try and keep the area as hair free as possible. I had a go at the hair removal cream but that did sting a bit and left a bit of a rash. I use an old electric shaver and get in some very perculiar positions to try and reach the areas to shave.

Once the wounds are nearly closed it's a good idea to have regular salt baths to keep it all as clean as possible.

Dispite all this care though, I had another boil flare up two weeks ago right on the spot where the new skin had grown over the wound. Damn thing was very big and painful and it burst with a whole load of blood. So I've managed to get an appt tomorrow with the surgeon and I'm guessing I have to go through the process again and i'll be back in for an op.

I'm much wiser and clued up about the process this time though.

I did get really fed up during the last recovery but I found seeing the nurse every day gave me something to do and the first few weeks were painful but then after that it was just discomfort. Take things slowly and you'll heal at your own rate, some quicker than others.

2

Bad luck mate

As you can see, most people don't bother responding to previous posts they would rather start there own :roll: I certainly didn't expect attention seeking on a forum like this.

The fact a reinfection has occurred on the same spot as the previous one makes me more and more angry about the lack of successful treatment of this, debilitating \"disease\"

So the PS sufferers are given padding post op and a \"good luck\" pat on the back.....marvellous.

It's a curse I tell ya

3

your experience sounds a lot like mine...well done for the good advice to people...It's a tough illness to have and can be very scary if you aren't given the right information-which I wasn't the first time I was admitted and lanced.

all the best for the future-not nice when the doctor recognises your bum instead of your face!

4

Evening All.

Realised it's been about 5 months since I posted the first note on this thread. Good news is (touch wood) I'm doing alright at the moment.

I went back in for the 2nd op in February and whilst I was under they said they found a Fistula. Still not 100% sure if this developed since they removed the sinus in the 1st op or if it was always there, but anyhoo I had a fistula. They could not take it out there and then, instead they had to insert a seton.

That's a rubber tube that went up my butt-hole then along this fistula (it's like a tract that develops) then back out through my skin before being tied off. So it's like a loop going through my skin. Purpose of that is to dry out the fistula so they could then operate again and remove it.

I had this seton in for 9 weeks (the original surgery dates they gave me would have been 17 weeks but I kicked up a fuss and they fitted me in when there was a cancellation), not a lot of fun having these tubes sticking out of me. Again it was difficult to sit normally so I was lying down a lot, I was able to work from home for 7 of those 9 weeks, lying down using a laptop!

Then it was back in for the 3rd op to remove the seton. Only took about 4-5 weeks to recover from that op, they had to lay open the fistula so it was a different type of wound than the very first op. Still needed some packing and dressing so was back with the practice nurses.

It's been about 5 weeks now since I was signed off by the doctor and so far so good. I've got a bit of a scar down there, and still use my coccyx cushion but fingers crossed that's the last of it!

Don't really suffer from pain anymore, just a bit sore occassionally. Hope I don't have to come back on here and tell you about op number 4!