Anyone else had to have incision opened

Hi,
I had my TAH/BSO on June 19. The following week my incision had to be reopened because of a large hematoma. I saw a general surgeon and had a nurse coming to my home daily to pack it in gauze. I now pack it my self but it is still very painful especially when I overdo it. I was put on antibiotics to prevent infection and am healing well considering I have an open incision. I am trying not to take the percocet but sometimes I have to take 1 or 2. I am afraid I will run out. Overall, I don't feel horrible- just tiredness and some pain. Anyone else have this happen to them?
Berrie

Hi-
I have a seroma- a pocket of fluid, that opened up my incision. I too have to have it irrigated and packed daily. My Dh packs mine now. I am off pain pills and it hurts when the packing is being done. It also makes me feel nauseous because I feel the long q-tip poking inside of me. I feel a little achy afterwards for awhile too. I do take 600-800 mg of Motrin a couple of times a day for pain.

You are fairly new to the recovery process. I would continue to take your pain meds if you are in pain. If you run out of Percocet, then the Dr may prescribe a "lighter" pain med. for you.

I think the fatigue that you have is normal for hyst recovery. I am easily fatigued at 4 weeks. Take it easy on yourself.

Do you have a follow-up visit with the Dr? I have to go in to see mine on a weekly basis for checks of my seroma.

You may want to search for hemtoma and also seroma on the HS search located above. I found a lot of good posts there.

Take care

TAH/BSO on 5-12-03. On 5-18-03 the Dr reopened my incision because of a seroma that had started to bleed through the incision the day before. I had to irrigate it with sterile water and pack it every day. It was hard to do at first but I got used to it. As of today I am down to about 1/8" left to close. Hopefully within 2 weeks it will have finally closed and I can get on with life or at least take a bubble bath!! I realized it wasn't the end of the world and would not trade having the surgery for anything...no periods for 2 months now!! Good luck...great products for this procedure are aquacel to pack it...does not stick, and ABD pads to cover the incision in case it leaks. Take it easy during this healing process and it is okay to take pain meds...mine hurt really bad some days and I took the pain meds and tried to lay flat on my back for periods of time throughout the day.