Recovery From Surgery Part Two

This is part two of a three-part series on how to recover from surgery. In part one we discussed things to do before your surgery to help you once you do have surgery.

This article will focus on immediate post-surgery tasks as well as where your recovery will take place.

Wound care:

Surgery typically involves an incision, whether the incision is external (cut through your skin), or internal (inside you where the incision is not visible from the outside of your body). Sometimes an incision is not stitched back together so the area can be packed with dressings that are changed frequently. Wound care varies depending on what kind of incision you had done and where on your body the incision is.

Surgical wound care may be as simple as applying a clean bandage to time-consuming, complex dressing changes. Depending on where your wound is, you may need a friend or family member to change the dressing, or you may require a professional caregiver to tend to your dressing changes.

Make sure you have enough supplies for at least two more dressing changes, each time you finish changing your dressing. If you have to order supplies, as opposed to going to a local store to get the needed supplies, be sure to order supplies in advance to prevent running out.

Again, your insurance company may have some place to recommend where to get supplies in bulk if you will require prolonged wound care.

Be sure to wash your hands before changing your dressing. This includes washing your hands even if you wear gloves. As soon as you touch your gloves, you have potentially contaminated them with microbes that may get into your wound. By washing your hands before donning gloves you lessen the number of germs on your skin and therefore lessen the amount of contamination that may get into the wound when it is exposed.

Before you remove the old dressing, gather all supplies you will need including any ointment or soaking solution you will need. Line up the supplies in the order that you will use them. This makes it easier to get into a routine when changing the dressing, which will also make the task more efficient.

When you remove the old dressing, look to see if there is any drainage on it. If there is, write down what color the drainage is, how much, and if there is any foul odor present.

Next, if necessary, clean the wound according to your surgeon’s instructions.

Once the area is cleansed, take note of:

Any redness around the wound/incision. Immediately after surgery, it is normal to have some redness along the edges of the incision. This is due to the increased activity going on to heal the incision. The redness should extend out from the edges of the incision a little bit and as the incision heals, the redness will reduce and then go away completely. This is normal.

Also, just after surgery, the surgical area will be tender and possibly mildly swollen. It may also feel a little bit warmer than the surrounding skin. Again, this too is normal.

What is not normal includes:

A stinky odor from the surgical site.

Normal drainage may look red, yellow, or clear. Abnormal drainage will look gray, brown, or maybe even green.

The incision is usually closed using sutures, staples, or glue. The skin surrounding the incision should not get so swollen that the incision starts to open or separate.

Sometimes the surgical area cannot be closed at all. Instead, the wound heals from the bottom of the wound to the surface of the skin. When the wound is healing, you may notice some small white bumps inside the wound. This is normal.

What is not normal is “goopy stuff” in the wound that looks like tapioca pudding.

Complete the dressing change as you have been instructed.

What to do if something doesn’t look right:

Any time you have a concern about your incision or any other part of your recovery, you should call your surgeon or home health nurse and tell them your concerns.

Specifically, report:

Fever

Increased pain in the surgical wound, especially if your prescribed pain medication does not control the pain

Any abnormal or smelly drainage coming from the wound

A wound that was healing well and now does not look right

Anything that you think doesn’t seem to be right. There were many times when I worked at the bedside that I wanted to call the doctor and tell them I had a “gut feeling” that something was wrong. Rely on your gut feeling. It may be telling you something that is going on but you’re just not sure what it is.

Place of recovery: home vs rehab center:

Many factors go into deciding where you will go after surgery. Either you will go back home or to a care facility. The care facility may be the hospital or an extended care facility.

The type/extent of your surgery is a factor.

How much care you will need, who is available to help you should you need assistance, and your overall health are also some things to take into consideration.

If you go home immediately after your surgery, you will need someone to stay with you at least overnight if you received sedation or anesthesia for your surgery. You can have someone stay with you, or you can go to their house if that is best.

Once you get home, you will need assistance while you are under restrictions. The kind of surgery you had will help determine how much and what kind of assistance you will need and for how long.

Talk with your team of supporters before you have surgery to see who is available to assist you after surgery. Keep your team updated on your needs as things may change once you get home.

Some things you may need help with:

Washing your hair

Bathing or showering

Dressing

Wound care

Transportation

Meals

Housework

Comfort and reassurance

Take extra precautions for your safety when you get home. Keep your path clear of things that may cause you to trip and cause injury to your surgical site, such as area rugs or toys. If you feel dizzy or unsteady, have someone with you when you get up to walk.

Your surgery might be such that you will need to remain in the hospital afterward. Depending on the extent of your surgery, you may be in just overnight or for an extended period.

Once you are ready to leave the hospital, you may be going home, or you may need to go to an extended care facility or a rehab center. And if you do go home, you may still need further care from a home health nurse or therapist like physical therapy. The case manager at the hospital can help arrange for your transfer to another facility or help set up home care if that is what is needed.

Sometimes you know before your surgery if you will need to go to a care facility when you leave the hospital. If you can, find out from your insurance company which facilities in your area are covered by your plan and go there to see what they are like. Of course, it depends on which facility has an opening when you are discharged from the hospital where you will go, but it is nice to have an idea of what to expect once you get there.

And if you are not able to check out facilities yourself, perhaps your support person can do this for you. I visited several facilities before deciding where my mom would go when she was going through cancer. (Read: Who is MAB? And The Day Cancer Turned Pink).

New meds:

After your surgery, you may have a new medicine to take, for a while at least. The most common drugs are pain medication, anti-nausea meds, and a stool softener or laxative.

As with any medicine, be sure to take each dose as prescribed and on time. Make sure you know exactly how to take your new medication. Are you supposed to take it on a routine basis or only if you need it? If you take it PRN ( medical abbreviation meaning as the need arises), what determines when you should take a dose? Are you supposed to decrease the dose according to symptoms or some other parameter, or are you to continue to take each dose until the prescription is completed?

How will you be taking your new medicine? Is it a pill that you can take on your own, or is it medication to be given through an IV by a visiting nurse?

How are you to store this medication? Do you store it at room temperature or keep it refrigerated until ready to use? No matter where you store your medicine, make sure it is securely out of reach of young children or confused family members.

Where will you get your medicine from? Will you go to your local pharmacy to get it, or do you need to get it from a mail service or a compound pharmacy?

How much will your medication cost? For generic medication, check national drug discount companies to see if you can get a price that is lower than the co-pay of your insurance. If it is a brand-name medication, go online or call the manufacturer to see if there is a discount you qualify for.

And finally, be sure to update your medication list with the names and dosages of your new drugs.

And while you’re updating things, add your recent surgery to your medical/surgical history list.

It may be advisable to get a medical alert bracelet/necklace, especially if you have any medical devices implanted in your body.

In part one of this series, we looked at ways to prepare your house for your return home after surgery, as well as caring for the people and pets you may be caregivers for yourself.

This article, part two has discussed how to tend to your surgical wound, where you will recover, and taking new medication after your surgery.

The final article in this series, part three, will give you more information on what to expect as you recuperate from surgery.

Comment below on how this article has helped you better understand how to care for your surgical wound.

Wishing you all the best,

Kelly

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Yes, I am a nurse. No, I am not your nurse. The medical topics discussed in this, or any article on this site, are intended to be issues for you to discuss with your medical team if you feel they apply to you. None of the information you are about to read in this article is treatment advice for you from me. I do not have that authority.