Hello,
I had my emergency Hartmann's procedure done in Lincoln one year ago. It prevented me from dying at that time. On May 3rd this year, I had the reversal done and a hernia repair carried out in Nottingham Queens Med. I was under the knife for less than three hours and woke up to no bag. The elation was unbelievable. I was euphoric. I stayed in the hospital for one week, being released the following Thursday.
This is now 13 days post-op and my bowels seem to have more or less settled down. I have stopped taking the laxatives as they were maybe too effective. I don't really need the oromorph either and only take paracetamol as required. The district nurses are coming around every day to pack my wound and it seems okay too. The initial scar was opened from my pelvis up to my belly button and sutured closed after the reconnection. There is a fair amount of exudate from this wound but only serous fluid, clear to a straw-colored and a little smelly, no infection. The other wound where my stoma was is six cm deep and is open. The surgeon half closed it with a purse string stitch and it will heal from the bottom up.
Has anyone else had this open wound at the stoma site and how long did it take to heal? The wound itself is clean and I have little pain.
I was amazed at the calm attitude of the surgeon. He said it was simply joining two pipes together and if there were no problems before surgery, then there should be no problems after the surgery. And it does seem that way for me.
Personally, I would highly recommend the reversal. All of my fears were unfounded. I didn't wake with a bag. I am beginning to get normal function, albeit a little more urgent than it was, but I suppose it is still early days. It's just this massive hole in my abdomen that needs to heal.
