Skin around incision hard?

Has anyone had tenderness below the belly button extends about 2 inches, but not near the incision (transverse)? Noticed it 3rd week post op.

Thank you for your replys, I am feeling much better about these lumps. I too hope they do not rupture and drain. they seem to be getting better, well atleast less painful. I was only using heat, I will try the ice and see if it starts to make a difference. Whats weird is all around the lumps, it seems to be spreading out underneath were they are located, but the mass is much softer. I have been feeling really good, almost feel back to self, except come mid day I want to crash. oooooohhhhhhhh the fatigue.

I also have a hard lump right under the incision line, and it happens to be where I was seeping for the first 2 weeks. I'm pretty certain I have a hematoma, but my post-op appt isn't for another 3+ weeks. I called my surgeon twice about the seeping, but he wasn't at all concerned (just said watch for infection)

I think we're conditioned to be frightened when we feel a lump in our bodies. We check our breasts for lumps regularly (at least I hope we all do!), so instinctively the same warning bells go off when we feel a hard mass in our abdomen.

When I felt mine for the first time I was VERY freaked out, but, everything I've been reading about post-surgery hematomas has put my mind at ease. The large majority of the time they just reabsorb and go away. For the more problematic ones the surgeon may opt to try to drain them, but either way, it's not a life-threatening situation. It's just feels weird

TooSassy and all....

I too have the rope-feeling scar. I have been massaging it daily with vitamin E oil and then rubby my belly with cocoa butter - the cocoa butter is mostly because it's soothing. Like the rest, I was told that this would go away, but that some massaging helps.

TooSassy - yes, I have tendernous from my belly-bottom radiating downward towards my incision. Sometimes is a palpable pain; sometimes I just feel it. My doc said that the after the incision is made, the skin is pushed up as far as the belly-botton stem, so all that swelly-belly stuff is from the skin being messed with - like it was kind of "scalped" away for a while. It has to have time to readjust and reattach. Sounds goofy, but that helps me to understand why there is water under my skin - the swelly -belly effect. I'm assuming those transverse pains are directly related.

Kimber and too Sassy-
I also have the bumps and numbness at incision site - my doctor and my sisters said it is normal and will go away-

Glad also to hear about the pain that seems remote from the incision - I guess it all makes sense - since they have to peel back skin and muscle to see what they are doing - I also had endo they were searching around for so they probalby stretched me every which way. My physician friend said everytime you feel a sharp twinge it is nerves trying to rejoin and communicate - so that helps me know I'm healing. Then it doesn't see like a bad thing........!

Sisters,

I had a hematoma from a car accident in Oct 2004. It was the size of a dinner plate (from hitting the steering column with my leg). Now it is the size of a penny. I too used heat/ice. My incision feels weird too but it is getting better.

Good luck to all

Hernia surgeons tend to warn their patients to expect that weird rope-like ridge under the scar (they call it the healing ridge, and they say it's a normal part of the healing process). For both my hernia surgeries, it went away, and now it's here for the hysterectomy incision, and I assume it will also go away.

For my hematoma, my hernia surgeon told me to use hot compresses (to increase blood circulation to the area--seems counterintuitive, but it did work), and to reduce ibuprofin use, since ibuprofin can increase bruising, and hematomas are essentially a kind of bruise. He said ice packs were ok for my hematoma if they made it more comfortable, but not to overdo them because they slow blood circulation to the area, and you want circulation to help healing. My hematoma is in no danger of seeping or draining, because of where it is (underneath a healed hernia incision), so check with your doctor first (because you might not want to use a hot compress in a place where the water might increase infection risk).