Getting my Skin Burned Off

For the last four days or so, I have noticed a discharge around my dialysis exit site.

Each morning I clean the site where the tubing enters my abdomen with antibacterial soap. Then I dry the area with a sterile gauze pad and douse it with hydrogen peroxide and antibacterial cream while wearing a surgical mask to prevent me from coughing or sneezing on the area. Then I dress it in sterile gauze and tape. The site is supposed to be completely free of pus, dirt, and blood. But my site wasn't.

It was also irritated and sore, so I went into the dialysis clinic to have it checked by a nurse. She said it was a tugging problem. The way I was taping down the foot-long tubing that is outside my body was causing the skin at the site to tear. She said she'd have to burn away the loose skin and blood around the exit site. Yikes!

So, while I held my shirt up to prevent my germ-infested clothing from contaminating the site, she burned away the affected area with silver nitrate. Though it burned and stung, I told her it was nothing compared to breaking my hip, so she should just do what she had to do and get it over with.

All day long, it's been stinging. But it looks a lot cleaner, which is the most important thing. Anything to prevent an infection of the tubing or, worse yet, of the peritoneum, the large sack within every person that holds the organs. I have not experienced this, and I don't want to. I understand that it is one of the most painful things around. So burning a little skin was OK with me.