So Long Apron Belly and Neck Gobbler!

Hi all, I’m sorry that I’ve not updated in so long. I’ve been in a weird headspace and emotionally grieving this entire process. I was traumatized after my csection opened up (due to a burst seroma), as I had to deal with weeks of packing the wound. This experience is so above and beyond that one.
I’m very lucky to be alive. And if all could have been prevented easily. I could have accepted
my new mommy body. My doctor could have listened when I said I had fevers and burning skin. But that didn’t happen.
I spent 2 weeks were to dry packing my enormous wound twice a day. I had horrible hospital experience with terrible care and poorly trained nurses.
I underwent numerous OR visits while sedated in order to scrub out my wound. Several nurses and the wound vac team told me they had never seen a wound as large as mine.
2 weeks in, I received a wound vac, was told there were no traces of the bacteria, and was sent home the next day.
The wound vac didn’t work properly. I didnt have a home health team to help me, and I was getting very sick. I ended up in Turner’s office 2 days after being discharged, and I passed out cold.
I was then readmitted to St Joe East. This time the room was cleaner and the nurses much nicer, at least. I had to do 2-3 time weekly OR procedures to clean my wound and sew me up. I’ve continued wearing the wound vac.
The itch has been unreal. Where it gets all hot and moist in that area, it’s caused a rash that I can’t possibly scratch and that’s been a whole other level of misery.
When I was sent home, it turns out I was antibiotic resistant (which was in my chart), but I was released anyway. This combined with a non working vac made me very sick. I had a lot of green bacteria for several days. I’ve been on the right combo of meds for about 2 weeks and it’s helped so much with my vitals. I spent about 3 weeks with significantly low blood pressure, high WBC, and low hemoglobin. I’ve been incredibly miserable.
Last week Turner became more aggressive in sewing me up. Now I’m doing bedside wound changes. To my knowledge, the hospital is looking at a long term care facility for me to go to.
I hardly get to see my son. In the 2.5 weeks in the new hospital, I’ve seen him twice, for 30 mins each.
I’ve had to take FMLA and STD for my job. They deactivated my email so now I can’t even have work to keep my mind busy.
While I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I’m 6 weeks out, and should be enjoying my beautiful new body. Instead I’m in constant pain and have a gaping wound that will take many more weeks to heal.
Everyone thinks this will never happen to me. I paid top dollar for one of the highest rated surgeons in my state. The facility was seemingly clean and gorgeous. But that didn’t matter. I almost died and my life, and my sons life, has changed dramatically.
This surgery is not worth the potential risk.

Hi all.
I am now 2 weeks out, but not remotely celebrating. It will be weeks or months before I’m healed.
So here’s my crazy update:
Last weekend my incision started to slowly open up. Saturday was one little hole. Sunday I had three. Monday it looked like caverns all across my
Mid to right side. I obviously called my PS freaking out. He advised he was on vacation (because of course he was), and asked me to see one of his nurses for a dressing change. I flipped my shit over this one because it was clearly so infected and the last thing I wanted was to stuff the infection further inside. After some yelling and tears, Dr. Turner was able to get ahold of his friend he went through med school with. Dr. Lynch is with Lexington Plastic Surgeons and agreed to see me at noon this past Monday. As soon as he took off my binder, he asked if I had been having fevers (which I have- and documented all in this blog). When I told him yes, he immediately left. He came back 10 mins later and said he set up emergency OR at the hospital. The next 2 hours were a whirlwind as I was transported to hospital and prepped for surgery. They scrubbed the wound and took cultures, and also removed all of the dead skin, which was quite a bit. They informed me that had I not come in when I had, I would likely be dead or in ICU hooked up to a breathing machine fighting for my life.
Obviously I was devastated when I saw my wound, but in comparison to the other option, I was grateful to be alive.
I’ve spent the rest of the week in the hospital. My dressing is changed twice daily. They’re using a bleach type substance called H-Chlor to drench gauze and then pack into the wound, cover in dry gauze, then hold in place with the binder. Placing the gauze in the wound doesn’t really hurt (only when they press down on the edges of my wound). Taking it out is another story- they want it to be semi dry so that it tears out dead flesh or bacteria. While I’m getting more used to the process, it will always be painful.
The dressing changes are done twice daily.
Otherwise, I’ve been seeing physical therapy to try to walk and get some strength back, as my core is completely useless currently. I’ve also met with a dietician to focus on healthy foods and supplements to heal me.
I’ve been taking oxycodone 10 mg every 4 hours and morphene every 4 hours. They’ve also added gabapentin for nerve pain.
The cultures came back. The doctors expected MRSA due to the aggressive nature of how it destroyed my flesh. However, that was negative. It was positive for Entercoccus and Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas is fairly rare and most often occurs from medical equipment/surgery. The bacteria also leaves a certain yellow green color behind when removing the gauze. There was a lot of that this morning, indicating I still have the bacteria despite the heavy duty antibiotics. I’ve been on three kinds intravenously since Monday. The good news is it’s knocked out my fever!
They placed a PICC line in yesterday so that when I go home I’ll continue to get antibiotics intravenously.
Today, they’re working to see if home health can come over the holiday weekend to help set up the dressing changes and IV. If someone can come out, I’ll get to go home today. Otherwise I’m looking at Sunday evening.
It’s expected I’ll get a wound vac towards the end of next week. There has to be no trace of the bacteria before that will happen though. But II’ve
been advised once that is applied, I’ll heal much more quickly.
They no longer think I’ll have to have a skin graft- there’s a much lower chance of that now, so that’s positive.
I am bummed I can’t continue to see Dr. Lynch and Dr. Moore, who have been my saviors through this last week. The issue is that I’ll need weekly wound cleanings that will require a surgical setting. Dr. Turner (original PS) has this in his building, so it’s free to me. If I use the other two, I’ll be paying OOP hospital fees plus fees to them each time. Dr. Lynch promised to consult with Turner, and feels that now I’m out of the woods and the bacteria has been identified and treated, he will treat me adequately. I’m going to play this by ear. The second I don’t feel heard or think he’s blowing me off/making a poor decision, I’ll call Dr. Lynch.
This is the worst y’all. I don’t even care about the outcome of my scar or belly at this point. I just want to be healed and to be able to mommy my toddler.

Horrific. I nearly died. I was rushed into emergency surgery yesterday to clean out and most of my skin was infected and removed. It will be months before I am healed. It will likely take a skin graft to fully close.