Hemorrhage 18 days post hysterectomy (Aug 11)

I had a TLHvaginally assisted, August 11. 18 days post op I started passing clots, huge clots... As large or larger than ping pong balls, every 15 or so minutes ( along with bright red blood). It started at 5pm and within an hour I was rushed to the hospital. They kept me in emerge for 4 hours before doing anything at all... If it was an external cut bleeding as much as I was, they would have had me in surgery right away... But anyways, 4 hours later, they finally tried giving me medication to try to stop the bleeding( which did nothing) then after 6 hours of extreme blood loss they finally called the gyno in. At this point she tried to see where the blood was coming from, but because of the amount, was unsuccessful. She then packed it to see if that pressure would stop it. This was not fun and ended up not working. I bled through the packing and through another 4 pads over the next 4 hours. Finally at 830am the next morning she had me in the OR. I was put under again and stitched up. She also re opened my exterior incisions to make sure there was no internal bleeding (which there was not, thank goodness). She told me after surgery that it was not my cuff that had opened , but I never found out what exactly did happen... Is there more than one incision internally that could split open? I was not overdoing it. I was walking, but not lifting etc. how active were you 18 days post op? I'm so scared that it may happen again.... Has this ever happened to anyone else? How long does it take to recover from such blood loss? I have four year old twins, so surgery once was bad enough, and now to deal with this, just sucks!!

Hi August112015

Welcome to Hystersisters! I'm so sorry you have had such a rough time of it since your original surgery. I don't have experience with a similar situation but wanted to send a hug and my best wishes for a speedy recovery going forward. Hopefully you'll get some views from others who have had a similar experience.

I did deal with anemia and would suggest drinking lots of water to help replace your lost blood supply more quickly, plus it's generally good for you as you heal. Eating iron-rich foods will help, plus cooking in a cast iron skillet helps increase iron in any foods you cook in it. I'm not sure there's any one answer for how long it takes to recover from this type of blood loss but the more you do along this line the sooner you will feel better.

I hope you won't have any further complications. Keep us posted on your progress.
Rita

Thanks Rita tonight was the first night I have started to see a little bit of colour returning to my hands and feet. good tips about iron. I started taking an iron supplement and will definitely eat more iron rich foods. I wish there was just some easy quick fix, but I guess this is just one of those things that is going to take some time. I do appreciate the warm thoughts... It's nice to know you're not alone in all of this craziness.

Wow. I'm really sorry you're going through it. Must have been really scary. Glad they were able to correct it. Definitely drink extra fluids and iron rich foods. Also with the iron supplement, watch the bowels. Iron can be very constipating.
Not sure what would have caused the bleeding. Unless you somehow strained and popped something. If it's something you really want to know, you're doctor should tell you. Or you could get a copy of the operative report. Good luck!! Xoxo

What a scary experience, I'm glad they got it figured out. I wish you a speedy recovery.

To answer your "how active were you at 18 days?" question, I wasn't really. Walking a little around the house, doing stairs, still no lifting, bending, twisting (when I tried I would feel, pain and stop). I'm 3 weeks out now and still not sleeping in bed, when I have slept in bed I've had spotting so I stay in the recliner. I can prepare a fast meal to go in the the oven (frozen veggies and chunks of meat) and rinse a pot of rice, but I leave the lifting to my husband. Still not driving, no cleaning except for folding laundry which I do at my leisure. Day 18 was actually the first day I could even sit straight up for longer than a few minutes and the first day I felt up to knitting, which I usually always have in hand.

Everyone is different though. Some ladies here were walking miles a day by then. I'm just listening to my body, if I feel a sharp twinge or notice bloating I stop what I'm doing and put my feet up the rest of the day.

This morning I emptied the dishwasher for the first time. My husband will be thrilled.

I don't think that it is anything you did if you were following restrictions. I did pretty much every single thing that wasn't restricted and didn't have any troubles. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to ask what happened! Do you have an appt coming up? If not, you could give the office a call.

Hi your story sounds very similar to mine. I'm feeling you write now as a I feel extremely vulnerable at the moment. I had my uterus removed vaginally and a rectocele repair done on the 12/8. On day 5 and 13 I filled a panty liner with fresh blood, went to hospital. Ultrasound showed a tiny weep between two incisions of vaginal vault. I was told all was fine and not to return unless I fill a pad completely. On day 18 after opp felt a pop and was rushed to hospital, lost 3 1/2 liters of blood, went into hypovolemic shock and convulsed. With loss of consciousness, I woke up in the resuscitation room, then rushed back into surgery to stop bleeding. Yes they stopped the bleeding by cauterizing the vaginal cuff but could not fine the source. I had a CT scan with contrast dye injection, the blood source was not found. The Gyno's said that the amount lost in three hours was from an artery? Was sent home with no explanation, calling me the Mystery girl. Now very weak with occasional uncontrollable tremors in my right arm. I feel for you as I'm having nightmares.

I feel for you.
It took me until about 7 or 8 weeks out to start feeling a little bit more normal.
The days/weeks after the rush to the hospital for the hemorrhage were terrible! Way worse than the first surgery. I had massive panic attacks and anxiety and depression. It was mostly emotional, and very little pain. I was just scared because I didn't know how it happened in the first place.. I can't even imagine your situation... Them calling you the mystery woman there is not a whole lot of comfort in that. I'm glad it has stopped for you though and I wish you a speedy recovery now.
I ended up going to my family doctor to discuss medications to help with my symptoms (about two weeks after the second surgery) (it took me that long to get myself in the mind set to get there) panic was just too much. I was already taking 10mg antidepressant. They doubled that to 20mg and gave me 1mg adivan, which was to take as needed when I was having panic/anxiety attacks. I was taking about 2 or 3 adivan a day for the first week and then about once a day for the next week... By then, the anti depressants had kicked in a bit more and I started to feel a little more in control. I am going to talk to my dr in the next week or so about lowering it back down.
If you are having nightmares and worry, I strongly suggest talking to your dr about it. I don't like being highly medicated permanently, but I am SO thankful I had the medication and the help that I did during those weeks. I'm here if you need someone to talk to.. Believe me, I now understand how important s support system is

FeraMAX is the iron supplement I was taking (and still should be). Much easier on the stomach and works fast.

Thanks for replying, the problem is l feel like a sitting time bomb. l cant understand why they couldn't find the bleed, like they.staying its an artery for goodness sake. Sorry about the dramatics. Have you experienced uncontrollable shaking or tremors.