Anyone have severe bruising?

Just a quick update I had my post-op appt yesterday with my gyn/oncologist and today I see the gyn/urologist for post-op. Yesterday the doctor said I looked terrible and that I have a good month more before I am feeling better. The hematoma in my belly is smaller but it causes severe pain. It takes the body a long time to reabsorb all that blood. After talking surgeon told me that the green tea I had two days prior to surgery was the cause of the internal bleeding and need for 2 blood transfusions. I had two cups at my pedicure. He told me that only one cup within a month can cause the blood to thin as if you were taking aspirin everyday. I wish they told me, I had no idea, they did say no supplements, but I never thought of green tea as a supplement, and I am a coffee drinker and only had those two cups that day because that was all they had. Anyway, no more green tea around this house. My bruising is much better, but not gone and it's almost a month now. The hematoma in my belly is hard and very painful.
Hope this helps someone else complications
~HUGS~
alicia

just letting you know I am now 3 weeks post op and the bruising is almost all gone. woohoo!

I also had bruising in the pelvic area. It was pretty bad. I had to have a transfusion too. From what they told my husband I had to have 3 pints replaced. My one question is...I can understand the bruising in the pelvic area, but why would I end up with a bruise that virtually covered the whole outside part of my right breast. I even had fingerprint looking bruises on my left side and a huge bruise on my ribs. I asked my doctor about it at my 2 week appointment and he says he does not know why. I am kind of dumb founded by this. Did anyone else experience any of this after their surgery. Thanks for any help you can give.

(((luvee))) I'm glad to hear your bruising is better and I hope the rest of you feels better soon.

I'd like to say, though, that the idea that two cups of green tea caused your extensive, severe bruising is a bit far-fetched. While it's true that green tea is a known blood thinner, it is not enough to cause the kind of damage you describe unless you already have a bleeding disorder. And the idea that one cup of green tea per month could thin the blood as much as taking aspirin daily sounds like an exaggeration. Perhaps your DR was just trying to make the point and didn't mean for it to be taken literally?

I am a very heavy green tea drinker, have been for many years. My DRs encourage it because of the compounds in green tea which have anti-cancer properties. While I have always been told to stop all vitamins and supplements a while before each surgery, never have they told me to stop the green tea - even when I explicitly asked about it because of how much of it I drink.

If I were in your shoes I would be consulting a hematologist to see if perhaps you might have a clotting disorder that had been undiagnosed prior to your surgery.

s,
-Linda

Hi Lessa007,
I had severe abdominal bruising from the trocar, I had a LAVH, I think my doctor called abdominal wall ecchymosis, I was black on one side of my abdomin from my ribs to my thighs, it looked a lot worse then it was. I know the nurses were shocked when they saw it, but I do have a bleeding disorder, and they gave my heparin before the surgery so I think that made it worse, they stopped the heparin post op when they saw what happened. But the following day I had an internal bleed and got a 14 cm hematoma and had to be brought back to the OR and opened up to remove the hematoma. I am now going back to see the hematologist as my doctor said I am a surgeons nightmare, I had 3 bleeds, one during the surgery, the one from the trocar and then the pelvic hematoma, but the good news is that the bruising does go away, it took mine 6 weeks but its gone now and I look fine. Hope you are recovering well, Best wishes!

Hi everyone!

I guess my bruising isn't that bad after all. It's on my lower abdomen on one side. There are signs of clearing but its still an ugly color.

I'm a heavy green tea drinker also. When I made a pre op surgical call (which is what the hospital I went to requires for screening), the nurse told me to stay away from the green tea. They acknowledged that it was a blood thinner but did not say by how much.

I had no transfusion during/after surgery and the bruising is not tender, warm, or "lumpy" from clotting which would cause me more concern.

Thanks so much for all of your feedback. It definitely helps to cope with the recovery process.

Hi Lessa007,
My doctor told me that the bruising reabsorbes into your body and helps bring your Hgb up, and that is what happened to me, so its not all lost blood. I also took warm baths, and was allowed in my hot tub after 2 weeks and that really helped the bruising fade. So hang in there it wil be gone by the time the good weather gets here!
Best wishes with your recovery.

I had a tah with a verticle incision on Jan 13. I had alot of brusing on the left side of my belly. I also had and still have a sore lump sort of thing near my navel on the left side. I had a cat scan and everything was normal. My dr. says the pain I still have in the left side is just the healing process. I really think they worked me over on the left side. Lots of retraction and pulling and tugging. If I bend or do to much I have the worst burning and ripping pain in the lower left area. Also shar pain there. The brusing went away after a few weeks, but the pain remains along the whole left side and down my incision. I thinks this takes alot longer recovery then we expected. I am 8 weeks post op and some days are worse than others. We all have to try and not do too much and just relax and be patient with our recovering bodies. I have learned from this site that it takes time. Hugs to all and we are not alone in this, we all have each other to help us get through it .

Ardcrann:

Thanks so much for the feedback. I go the MD on Monday for follow up. I will definitely put baths on my list of questions. That's a great idea!

Reabsorbing blood into my system to improve my hemoglobin is definitely a good thing. I will be patient and keep the faith.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hi Shore,
My dr told me that there are a lot of internal sutures that take months to heal, he said as long as my incision is red it is still healing and the same goes for the internal sutures. He told me not to over do it and if I have days that I am tired I am to rest, so I guess this is to be expected. I am almost 8 weeks post op, most days I am great but some days I feel tired, but I know that this is normal. Hope you have a good weekend and take it easy.