Oh, dear...
I'm so sorry to hear you're having this difficulty in your recovery. I know you're not having any fun right now.
I had a hip-to-hip incision which took ten full weeks to heal, and even afterwards, I had lingering pain. My incision did finally close up, but the pain never left and I felt like I had never-ending swelly belly. However, I didn't seek medical attention.
Finally, at 7 months post-op, the pain got too intense to ignore. I was given a CT scan, which showed a very large (19x9x4 cm) hematoma in front of my abdominal wall, right along the incision line.
It was drained three times but kept filling up with fluid again (as it had formed a sac and gotten all comfy in my abdomen) and finally I had to have it surgically removed the day before my first hysterversary.
I tell you this to try and give you some hope -- because the fact that you're dealing with this at 10 weeks post-op is much easier than dealing with it almost a year after surgery.
Chances are you are not dealing with a hematoma or seroma, but if you are, your chances of resolving it naturally are much better now than down the road.
One thing that really helped me during the healing process was a tummy binder. It's sort of like a large ACE bandage with Velcro on each end. I actually used two of them to give myself more coverage and support -- and it really felt wonderful. It also meant I didn't have to use any of that nasty adhesive tape to hold the dressings in place.
If you do have fluid in your abdomen, it may be either a hematoma (collection of blood) or a seroma (collection of other fluid). They may not be able to tell which it is by ultrasound or CT scan. If it's not infected, they are likely to try and let the hematoma or seroma resolve on its own. As strange as it sounds, it is much more complicated to go in and drain it (which *seems* like the obvious course of action) than to let it reabsorb, because then you have much more chance of infection and other complications.
It's important to know that if you do have a hematoma or seroma, it's not because of anything you did or anything your doctor did. It's sort of like when you hit your shin on something -- sometimes you get a bruise and sometimes you don't.
It is very frustrating, however.
If you do have a hematoma or seroma, please don't be shy about asking for pain control if you need it. Blood is very irritating when it's not where it's supposed to be, and a hematoma or seroma can be extremely painful.
to you. Hope this helps, and I hope you feel much better very soon.
Post-op, 10 weeks and having problems
