My understanding is that packing the wound stops it from closing up before the bottom of it has healed, which might have been the problem previously, when you still had infected, unhealed parts deeper down into the wound. Hopefully this will absorb all the yuckiness and it’ll heal from the bottom up.
Bound to smell if there’s infection and pus though. Not nice for you at all Gordon.
How often are they going to change the packing?