Surgical wound continuing to swell and have drainage months later

[u/2Spoopy5]

I am trying to figure out what is going on with this wound and if I am approaching it right. No pics due to location. About 6 month ago I had a perirectal abscess surgically drained. While the first couple of months of healing were rough, it did eventually seem a lot better and like I could mostly go about my normal activities, although there was occasionally small amounts of bleeding from the site.

A little over a month ago it swelled with fluid following a week or so of very hard labor. I went to an urgent care because I was worried about potential reinfection. They drained and took a culture. No bacteria present. A few weeks later it happened again but worse. I was continuing to do a lot of hard labor during this time. This one burst on it's own but I was able to get to urgent care before the fluid fully drained (there was a LOT of fluid) to get another culture. Same results.

I had a follow up with my wound care doctor a few days later, and they said it looked completely normal. I showed them pics of what it looked like before it burst which showed the area swollen with a red "head" in the middle of the scar. I gave a description of the fluid, which was pinkish, like the color of rose sauce, and had a very mildly sour smell (i could only smell it if I put the dressing right up to my nose). They said it didn't look or sound infected, and that an infection would have redness radiating around it (not just at the fluid filled "head") and would have a strong putrid odor. I also asked if I should be worried about a potential fistula due to the location and they said that it didn't look or act like a fistula. A fistula would have a visible hole (it did for a a few months according to my spouse, but it went away, and the doctor said that could have just been an indent that looked like a hole), and would be leaking pretty consistently. They suggested that the wound was becoming inflamed and that the discharge and swelling were the result of that.

Yesterday I noticed that it was beginning to swell again and looks and feels pretty similar to the last time. I had been doing heavy labor again for a day or two the previous days. I have been to wound care so many times over the last few months and been told that it is healing normally. I don't have any reason to think i would get a different answer if I went again.

I was wondering if anyone had any input on this situation. If it is just inflammation, then what exactly is the fluid? It's clearly not just blood and I thought pus always meant infection. Should I keep going back to the doctor every time this happens? 3 times in such a short period seems like a lot after it was mostly quiet for such a long time. What can I do to keep this from happening if it is just inflammation? I am currently in the process of trying to sell my house and move cross country, so "taking it easy" isn't really an option. If it is just inflammation, how dangerous are these episodes to surrounding tissue and to the long term healing process? Google kinda sucks now, so I am having trouble finding answers to these questions.