11/14/19: I Think My Port Incision is Finally Healing

I've been putting triple antibiotic ointment on my port incision as instructed by my infusion nurse last week, and I think it's really helped.

Before using the antibiotic, the incision never really closed. It had what looked like 2 small scabs preventing the skin from closing, except they weren't really scabs, because they never fully hardened or fell off. (I considered posting a photo, but it's kind of gross, and I don't think there's any educational value in it.)

The incision always looked angry, a little red, a little swollen. It made me uneasy. But it didn't hurt, it wasn't warm to the touch, and I didn't have a fever. At least one medical professional looked at it on a weekly basis and said it didn't look infected, so I figured I was just healing slowly for some reason.

At first I was using Glad Press 'n Seal to keep the antibiotic ointment in place, because bandaids were irritating my skin. Then I suddenly realized that using Glad Press 'n Seal probably wasn't a good idea, because it's not sterile! Geez. I switched to using a gauze pad and medical tape. I don't know why I didn't think of that before.

Apparently, I managed to stumble upon the proper way to treat a wound (though I'm using an antibiotic instead of plain Vaseline because it's what my nurse said to do). I wasn't thinking of my incision as a "wound", but I think that's what was going on, since the incision hadn't closed properly. The ointment softened the 2 non-scab things; they turned white and mushy (ew...), and after a few days, they came off with just a bit of gentle help with a Q-tip.

I think the incision looks better than before; at least it looks like it's closed. But it's still kind of red and raw, so I'm still using the antibiotic ointment. We'll see what my nurse says tomorrow.