Healing

Nick continues to heal.
I got the all clear from clinic today that things are healed, no infection, everything is working and we got cleared to go swimming!

Before the surgery I really wanted to know what everything was going to be looking like. So I have been taking pictures of Nick's belly button to show how everything has been healing. If you aren't interested in seeing a whole bunch of belly button pictures, feel free to skip this post.

Day 7
It's starting to heal. I think the catheter was irritating it.
As it has been healing it has been having some discharge, pinkish. So I have used some gauze and taped it just below. So it can still get some air to help it heal, while protecting it (and his clothes)

Day 11
Some bruising is showing below the belly button.
The laproscopy incisions are healing well, he doesn't need any bandaids or anything on it.
Still have the tape/gauze on during the day, but it's healing well.
Still having some drainage, but less pinkish and more clear/yellow. Doesn't smell bad or anything

Day 14
I'm not sure what the redness is, I put some polysporin on. There is still some drainage and I'm not sure if it is just irritation. We have clinic tomorrow so we'll see what they say (and they said it was ok, it was less red by then as well).
Tomorrow the tube comes out!

Day 16
The tube it out, no more tape and dressings on his belly!
The redness and the drainage decreased once the foley came out.

Wow where did that flat belly and ribs come from!

This is a picture I took before the surgery to use as comparison. Nick has always had a bit of a swollen belly. I think that this shows how effective the MACE is, by actually clearing him out from the top down.

Day 19
I can't believe almost 3 weeks and it is pretty much healed.
And I think that I finally got all of the tape off! All of the tape and the bandaids have left his belly very irritated. So I am keeping everything off of him for now.

Can you tell he has a hole in his belly button?

When I go to put the catheter in, my finger goes right above the belly button, push gently and you can see the hold at the bottom of his belly button, but it is completely hidden during the day.
And Nick (for now) doesn't mind me showing off his belly to everyone

Everyone heals a little bit different, but this is how Nick has been healing. 

Recovery

If you are interested in how Nick is doing then check out yesterday's post. He is doing great.
But if you are looking for more information and pictures about the recovery, and the MACE, then continue reading this post.

One thing that I would recommend from anyone, is to ask for a lot of the Remove adhesive removal pads. I got 4 of them and went through them all in the first couple of days. Every time I would take sticky stuff off, more would come and my hand kept sticking to everything.

This is what Nick's belly looked like the first day home.

We had some fluid draining from around his belly button, so we've had a little dressing taped below his belly, just to keep his clothes dry. It hasn't been blood, just pinkish and mostly clear. (His shirt is wet from dropping juice)

 Nick's skin has been holding up well, but when I am changing the gauze pad, the tape comes with it. So I've added some skin protector, then a larger dressing that I can tape the gauze to.
This picture I took yesterday (Day 5 post-op). It is hard to see how the stoma (hole) is healing, because the glue that stopped the bleeding is staying in place like a scab.
He does have a bruise below the belly button too.

Today everything came off (by itself, kind of like a umbilical cord that dried and fell off) and I got to see what it actually looks like. (Day 6)

We have more of that pesky tape we need to take off. And the one band-aid covering one of the laproscopy hold came off too.

It looks sore, but Nick is comfortable. Doesn't seem to care. And his belly looks so flat now!
The face Nick is making has more to do with me taking pictures of his belly ... again... than any discomfort he has.

This is how Nick is recovering. For those who are reading because they are considering this. I know that I wanted to find as much information as I could about what to expect. What it would look like, how Nick would recover and how noticeable the stoma (hole) would be. (The Doctors and Nurse Practitioner all tell me it won't be noticeable once it is healed).
To me, today, it looks glaringly obvious that there is a hold in his belly button. But it is only day 6. I will continue to help show how the recovery is going.