Post-op warning!

[gynetexas]

Thanks to the information found on this message board, I decided to have gyne. surgery.  The operation took place Monday, July 23 and lasted about 4 hours.  I was probably a 6/10 and will post before/after pics on a seperate thread at the end of this week along with the surgery details.  My PS did an EXCELLENT job and I feel so relieved.  However, I wanted to warn everyone who just had the procedure or who is thinking about having it done. 

Sunday night, ~6.5 days after surgery I was feeling great (little sore still) and was even able to wear reg. shirts instead of button-ups.  I had drains removed that Thursday and felt I could drive and do a fair amount of arm movement.  I still had the compression vest on at all times with the exception of showering.  Well, I was looking under my bed for something and didn't feel as though I was straining myself, but I guess I did.  At 1:45am I got into bed on my back and tried to fall asleep.  I felt a tickle under my right nipple and it started to feel a little swolen.  I just thought it was normal even though my chest has been very flat since surgery.  It started to hurt a little so I got up and went to look in a mirror.  Within 3 minutes, my right side was the size of an orange.  My left was still flat.   I started to freak out because the compression vest was expanding so much so I called the doc's office.  I called my parents and they took my to the hospital to meet the doc there at about 2:15am.  By that time my right boob was the size of a grapefruit...bigger than what my hand could grasp.  It hurt like hell and I thought a simple drain would fix it.  Nope.  The hospital was putting together a full surgery team because they had to go in and drain the blood.  Turns out an artery busted (hematoma) and it filled the whole side with a ton of blood.  I was worried because I ate a big meal at 11:30pm and I had to go under gen. anesthesia.  The operation only took 1.5 hrs and they burnt the artery to stop it from happening again.  Everything was fine - recovery was easier because of the shorter duration, but I do feel a little pain on my nipple.  He had to re-stitch it and put another drain in just to be safe.  I will meet with the PS Thursday to get the drain out and to remove the stitches on my left nipple. 

I'm on vicodin right now so sorry for rambling.  I just wanted to warn everyone that this crap can happen and even though you may feel ready to do normal activity a week later - BE CAREFUL.  Just take it easy and try to milk your friends/fam's hospitality that know about the surgery for all it's worth .  Everyone around me has been very helpful but I guess I thought I healed a lot faster than I actually did.  Once again I will be posting more stuff on the surgery and before/after pics once I get the drain removed this week.

[Time_to_fix_it]

Good post Gynetexas and well worth reading for people about to go for surgery.

I had a haematoma during or immediately after surgery and the medical team made it very clear to me to take things very gently for at least a week or I could get problems.  I think we are on such an emotional high after surgery and if there isn’t any pain I guess we feel we are ok and can do most things.

[buffetkid]

So within the 2weeks atleast we have to take it easy?

I always thought that Hematoma could happen within the first 3-4days?

[ST]

When I got a hemotoma it was terrible. Luckily it happened soon after surgery but I had been anticipating returning home and to have to endure a day in the hospital bed waiting to see if I needed to have surgery again was agonising.

My advice would be if you get a hematoma get it checked out asap, if your surgeon deems it necessary to have surgery again try not to get too worried, I found it painless and the surgery itself was fast.

Gratz on successful surgery by the way!

[gynetexas]

Thanks...it just sucks because in a way I'm back to square one.  I have all of the padding on both sides of my chest and a drain on my right side again.  I'd say in the past 24 hours there has been less than 4cc's of fluid drained.  It's just going to be uncomfortable until Thursday's visit.  I guess my right side will be a week behind my left in terms of healing, but I'm only 25 so it seems as though I'm healing rather quick (minus the hematoma   I had almost no bruising at all, just yellowness over one side of my chest from the iodine. Once again I'll post pics up on Thursday.

[gynetexas]

My PS is Dr. D. Fisher in San Antonio, TX.  He knows his stuff and has an excellent office/support team.  If anyone is from the south Texas area and are looking for a good PS, get in contact with him.