haematoma following surgery

miyoko

I also had haematomas after my WLE, and total axillary resection surgeries. They looked nasty - purple,blue, black etc, but they cleared up of their own accord within 2-3 weeks. I didn't find them difficult to deal with, but had a seroma in the top of my back after the axillary resection and had to have it aspirated every 2-3 days for 3-4 weeks. Now, that was a problem - painful until they drained it, and a lot of travelling to the hospital, as the local GP and nurse have not been trained in its' aspiration.

Liz.

Hi Miyoko

I had a haematoma following bowel surgery. This was operated on and I developed another one (I ended up with 3 ops in 4 months). The Consultant said that for some reason, during the healing process, I developed a capsule that filled up and sealed itself! So I had a self-contained haematoma!- I can laugh now but I didn't at the time.

I hope yours gets sorted soon

Kat

Dear miyoko,

I too developed a heamatoma, I was told it was a complication of breast surgery, in fact two other ladies on my ward, same op as me, developed the same thing. I had my lumpectomy and lynph nodes removed on the 14th. January, my heamatoma still hasn't dissapeared consequently I haven't healed yet, so have been prescribed two seperate lots of penicilin for infection and my radiotherapy has been canceled untill my wound heals. I am due to see my consultant Wednesday 19th March, but I am not holding my breath as to starting my radiotherapy next week, as my wound is still weeping. I am sure because of the size of the heamatoma, this is stopping my skin from knitting back together. I had asked if the heamatoma could be drained, but I was told no, they prefer to let the body deal with it itself. It sounds to me, that each county has different ways in which they treat their paitients, I live in the South of England by the way. I had breast cancer 16 years ago and had the same op, but on the opposite breast, I didn't have to endure any of this, only very severe bruising, which covered my back and down to my waist. Although the treatment of breast cancer has come a long way from my experience of 16 years ago, you are not prepared for any complications that may arise from it. I was very worried about not been able to start radiotherapy, but was assured there is nothing strange in starting it as late as four months after surgery. I have now stopped worring about my heamatoma, the body will re absorb it all in good time, the only annoying thing from my point of view now is, I so long to lie back in the bath and have a jolly good soak, but I can't do that untill my blessed wound has healed. Don't know if my experience will be of any consulation to you, but it is nice to read about others experiences.
Best Wishes
wincote

Boy, can I relate to this. I had WLE and axillary gland removal last May, and had a seroma which subsequently burst and got infected. Now almost a year on I have had a mastectomy (on Thursday) and lo and behold, seroma is building up and it almost looks like my breast has grown back!

I am worried that it will burst again and will get infected like last time. Has anyone got any advice on whether I should do the exercises, or any other techniques for stopping the seroma fluid from building up to the point where I get another burst?

It really annoys me when they say they won't drain them - I had this last time and it took months to heal and delayed my chemo.

All advice and comfort gratefully received!

Hi - I have had a haematoma following surgery to remove cancerous nodes underarm. In fact this was classed as a recurrence as I originally had the cancer on the same side in 2008 - went through all the treatments and on a routine scan they found that not all the cancerous nodes were removed, so I had to go through an operation, chemo and now on Tamoxifen for 5 yars. This was found last March and had my last chemo in October 2011. My problem is that I have a haematoma under my arm which has been drained about 8 times and is still there. I saw the surgeon two weeks ago and he said to stop having it drained and see if nature takes its course and see him again in a month. I must admit I do worry about it because it just won't go away and is quite uncomfortable! Can anyone help with their similar story - surely this isn't normal? Ginny

Hi I had a right mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy done on 28th Dec,the scar has healed although I was a bit concerned to see that the area underneath was feeling quite solid.My surgeon told me at my follow up opa that it was a haematoma, that he would leave it alone at present as I now have to go back on 2nd Feb to have lymph nodes removed he will review it then, and this time I will have a drain so hopefully it won't happen again. Yes I fully agree being in a car and going over bumps is something else!!!!

I had a seroma and now have a hematoma following surgery for lymph node clearance on 29th Dec. Also skin below the incision was burnt by the cauterisation equipment used to dissect the lymph nodes. A cigarette size type of burn appeared on my skin. I was first aware of a hematoma when this small burn wound opened up and began leaking blood.I've been going for check ups and dressing changes 2-3 times a week for five weeks. Last Fri the surgeon attempted to drain the hard area by hand through the incision which really hurt over the weekend. This experience has really affected me, I've already had mastectomy/recon, followed by chemo for 6 months and felt I was physically and psychologically beginning to turn a corner. I think I foolishly thought that lymph clearance would be fairly straight forward, how wrong I was! Im really emotional and weepy some days, can anyone else relate to this? They've decided to see if the bleeding stops during this week, failing this I will have to go back in and have the hematoma cleared out and a drain put in. The radiotherapy has been postponed until this problem is sorted. I'm quite shocked by the number of people who have had or have similar experiences, I wasn't aware of hematoma complications.

Jo

Hi Turqoise, went back to see surgeon on Fri to hospital, have been told to wait and see for another 3 weeks. I'm hoping now that the hematoma will sort itself out with no further intevention because further problems may develop if opened up. How is your situation now?

jO