Is a Second Belly Button Good Luck... Like a Third Nipple?

Five months and twenty days have passed since my emergency colon resection and tumor removal. In a perfect world, that surgery would be but a memory... well, a memory and a ten inch scar down my stomach. In reality, the incision has not healed completely. After five months and twenty days, I am still left with an open tract which goes all the way down to the original stitches. I have named this tract my second belly button. It's located about an inch and a half above my original belly button and although it's actually an open wound, when I lay down and the tract's not dressed, it truly resembles the original.

Is this odd disfigurement permanent? I certainly hope not. It is going to be a chronic issue at least as long as I am receiving chemotherapy. I had an appointment with my surgeon, Dr. C, a couple of weeks ago. He believes that a knot from the original stitches is at the bottom of the tract and it will not heal until the knot either dissolves or is removed. Removal of this knot requires a minor surgical procedure which would reopen part of the would that I have expended so much energy to heal. Dr. C was anxious to perform this procedure when I saw him last November, but facing my first chemotherapy session ten days later, I wanted to wait. Now that I am receiving regular treatments, Dr. C wants to wait. Once I'm done with chemotherapy, he'll go in and mess around with the wound. What a great way to celebrate the end of chemo treatments!!! With minor surgery!!!

As a side note, my original belly button is doing as well as can be expected. The surgical team was nice enough to make the incision around it, so the physical appearance has not been disturbed. Emotionally though, it is quite disconcerting to find yourself suddenly duplicated and to find that your doppelganger is getting much more attention on a very regular basis. It's definitely something to think about.