Frustrated!

[motherof3sons]

My son had an emergency appendectomy over the weekend and now has a wound infection.

The surgeon stated "I am not surprised as that incision is the one I pulled the infected appendix out of" So why didn't he prescribe antibiotics for this??

So now I am having to do wound packings on my son and not very happy about it!

It was a hellish weekend as I was 2 states away when said son became ill and dear hubby trying to relay symptoms and such. Drove home and was glad that I did so I was able to see son before surgery and be with him overnight.

Thankful for modern medicine as it is and know that in the end he will be fine. Just a tad frustrated though!

[toomuchbaloney]

We certainly cannot speak for the physician.

I pray that your son recovers fully without any problems.

Good luck.

[westieluv]

So the physician ordered no post-op ATBs? I thought that was standard practice. Also, if the physician felt that your son was at increased risk for an infection due to having an infected appendix, why didn't he write orders aimed specifically at preventing this?

As toomuchbaloney said, we can't speak for the physician, and my comments are just speculative, since I don't know the whole situation. I also pray that your son recovers fully and quickly. It's so hard to see our kids sick.

[motherof3sons]

I was thinking the same thing.....now just moving forward. Son(17yo) is feeling better.....telling me that I am" insensitive" in a joking manner and that the customer service stinks......but just stinks to have to go thru this when I feel it could have been prevented by a round of abx.

[firstinfamily, RN]

It would have made sense to have started him on antibiotics during surgery!! I do not get the thinking process of this MD. At least your son is old enough to understand what is going on, not that negates anything. Does he need to follow-up with the same surgeon? Have you thought about using a wound vac? They do seem to heal more quickly than just packing and it is a closed system so less potential for any infection. It may not be ideal for your son, but it would heal the wound more quickly. Is he on ABT now?? Sorry you and your family had to go through this. Also Vitamin C and zinc help with wound healing, one of our orthopedic surgeons routinely orders these on his patients.

[motherof3sons]

He is now on Bactrim ds bid, wound packings bid and if it does not improve significantly by Monday I will ask about a wound vac.

It is a small laproscopic incision and hopefully doesn't take long for healing.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Yeah, right. Way to go Dr HCAHPS.... condescending responses are just the right response... If the appendix was intact when it was removed, the "cutter's" comment is not valid. More likely, someone didn't wash his/her hands.

[motherof3sons]

The thing is I worked at this hospital and knew which surgeons were to be avoided....but that was a long time ago. So felt out of the loop and loss of control sucks!

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

A surgeon I once spoke with actually did not put most post op patients on antibiotics because he felt it opened them up for more resistant infections, thus they would be harder to treat in the long run, he said it was better to risk the patient getting a regular treatable infection than one with resistant, difficult to treat organisms.