TVH June 1st lost a lot of blood, soo tired. Anyone else?

So on June 1st I had a TVH, hernia repair, and cystocele repair. My story is below.. just wondering if anyone had similar stores.. I'm so tired and week.. Just walking around in my house and my knees give out



On June 1, 2011 I went in to the hospital. I had a hysterectomy, hernia repair and bladder sling done. The hospital had been low on rooms since before I was checked in for the procedure. The nurses had been talking about it when I arrived. I guess after my surgery it took a while to find an available room. At around 7:30 I was told that I had a room ready and was taken there. I was not informed that I was on the cardiac floor.
That evening I was introduced to my two nurses, a tech and a R.N. At one point I asked how much blood was normal to be losing and that I thought I was bleeding more than I should be. The nurses told me not to worry that it was normal to have bleeding after my procedure. I mentioned that it was more than one pad an hour, they just kind of shrugged. It did not cross my mind that they wouldn't know what was normal as they probably weren't used to dealing with hysterectomy patients as a rule.
After a couple more hours I had soaked trough more pads and every time I got up they changed the pad on my bed as it was bloody as well. They never once acted concerned at the blood loss or checked me. The pain I was having began to worsen and the medicine they had been giving me was no longer helping. The R.N. kept going back and forth between my room and the pharmacy trying to figure out what might help, but told me that ibuprofen was probably all I could have as I was allergic to Morphine and they usually don't okay any stronger prescriptions. At this point I was doubled over in pain in my bed crying. I stayed in this position for some time before I decided to try and sit up. As soon as I sat down I felt a gush that was unlike anything I had ever felt. I looked down and that entire portion of bed was covered in my blood. It was beginning to run down my legs. My husband called for the nurse but after no one responded he stepped out of the room and grabbed a nurse that was passing by. She came in and bent down to look at the bed. At this time she mumbled "Oh, ****, oh, ****" over and over under her breath. By now I was starting to get very worried. A few more nurses joined us and helped me into the bathroom. They began to take off the stretchy underwear like garment that was holding my pad when a clot the size of a soccer ball fell out. I continued to bleed so they quickly cleaned up my bed and helped me back to it. My husband described me as ash gray from lips to skin and had to sit down with his head between his legs. I kept asking if there was a doctor there and kept being told that I didn't need a doctor, they would know more once the blood work came back. I was clammy, dizzy, weak and terrified. My nurse then called the doctor on call at my gynecologist's office and was told to keep me in bed and give me stronger pain medication. My blood pressure at this time was around 60/30 to 70/40. I was too afraid to go to sleep as I didn't think I would wake up. I had asked the nurses if I should be scared and they informed me if it were them they too would be scared.
They continued to monitor my vitals every 15 minutes for most of the night as well as they were finally checking on my bleeding. It had slowed down, but was still quite heavy soaking through the large pads about every hour. My doctor came in around 7:30am and noticed some seeping from the incision in my vagina. She immediately packed me with gauze and my BP and blood count began to stable out. By the time I was released my hemoglobin count was 8.1 and my BP was around 80/50.
It is frustrating to no end to know that if I had been listened to in the first place I could have been packed hours and hours earlier, kept in bed and not had nearly this significant as blood loss. I can't help but think if I had been placed on a floor that was used to having patients such as myself they would have known to listen to me and take the bleeding seriously. I have never in my life been so scared and almost two weeks later I am still having nightmares about the incident.

OMG, I started to feel sick just reading your story so I could only imagine what u were feeling. I also had a TVH, but hardly had any bleeding, but u had more extensive surgery than I did. I hope u r starting to feel better now. When I went for my post-op appt, the med student, who I might add was a "man" said well u sorta had "major" surgery, I wanted to slap him in the face, let someone rip something out of his penis and we'll see how major that is. I feel for you because drs and nurses are always so quick to brush us off, like we have no idea what's going on with our own bodies

I am so sorry to hear that you went through this. Did they ever tell youbthe causes of the excess bleeding? I had the same experience, though it was two weeks following surgery as a result of a pulled stitch in the vaginal cuff. My Dr put me on pre-natal vitamins to increase my iron and folic acid levels. Perhaps talk to yours. It has taken time, but my energy level is much improved.

I wish you the very best.

Oh boy what a terrible story, I'm so sorry you had to go through this!
Of course you feel tired, take it very easy!
Good to share your story.
I really hope you feel better soon and recover very well.

Wish you all the best and hugs.

Thank you for your replies.

My Uro said it is rare but occasionally when doing a repair the Gyn will nick a vessel and not notice it to stitch it up. I guess this is what happened to me. My Gyn put told me to eat an iron rich diet and take an iron supplement. I've been trying to do that but on top of the pain meds it does a number on my stomach. I'm glad to hear there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just didn't see myself so week after 2 weeks. I expected to be tired and easily fatigued but my arms shake from typing on the computer. It's nuts.

It is so nice to have a place to voice my opinions and fears. My poor husband has been through so much with me.. for the first couple of days he would come in and rest his hand on my back to make sure I was breathing. Thanks again!

(((Jammrz)))

I am sorry you had to deal with this complication.

My situation was a bit different. No real bleeding at first. But the second day after surgery when I was suppose to be released, I woke up with a very large bulge on my right hip. I had internal bleeding that opened up the door to a lot of complications and an extended hospital stay! I then passed all of that blood over the next three months!

The confusing and odd thing in my situation was that my blood pressure and pulse spiked--as in heart attack highs--and I was blacking out if I was upright. So not only was I not allowed out of bed, I was even brought a bed side toilet as I wasn't even allowed to walk across the room to use the bathroom!

To this day, no one knows if I was nicked during surgery, something ruptured when I dry heaved the day after surgery, or what happened. I did require a transfusion and was tired for weeks and weeks

So, my truly goes out to you! It is scary to have issues like that and it is hard on us and our family members! There is light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully you arrive there soon!

Keep posting here, tell us how you are doing, your story really touched me. Bless you and your husband.

Weiser - That would be scary! I'm glad you are doing better now, it gives me hope!

I had my 2 week check at my gyn office today. I've been having stabbing pains in my sides and of course turned up positive for a kidney/bladder infection. Other than that everything is healing well, she said the fatigue and weakness will take a while but I'm on the road to recovery, so am very thankful for that. I guess the Uro wants to see me in the morning now for the infection, goody Thanks again for all of your replies.