blood loss during surgery

When I read the surgical notes from my TAH, I saw that I lost 800ml of blood. That seems like a lot, but what do I know? So I was wondering how much blood all of your lost during your hysterectomies. Please tell.

I don't remember much from my surgery, but I do remember my MD telling me that the OR staff was shocked how little blood loss I had; something in the ball park of 50 ml. This was probably because I had to do an intense bowel prep pre op and was likely mildly dehydrated going into surgery. 800 ml does seem alot, but if you did not receive a transfusion during or directly after surgery, then your hematocrit and hemoglobin remained stable despite the loss of blood, and your volume was maintained by the IV fluids that were given to you.

I lost 1600l of blood which I believe is about 3 1/2 pints if my math is correct (no promises). I think the average person has 10 pints in their body. I know they scared my daughter half to death and also had two pints typed and cross matched brought to the OR. They used Hespan, a blood volume expander though and my pressure must have been acceptable because I didn't get a transfusion. According to my records, they were checking my crit every six hours and it must have kept climbing.

When I talked to the resident assisting my surgeon she told me that my ovaries looked healthy but were encased in endo and since I was losing so much blood, they "took them and ran".

Homesick Gypsy -- Well, of course 1000ml is a liter (and even us americans know what a liter looks like because of bottled water). So 1600ml is over a liter and a half and really seems like a lot.
Nightengale 212 -- I did have a transfusion immediately after surgery, and I'm still quite anemic. After my second surgery (to repair all the mistakes from the first surgery), my hgb was 8.8. Will I ever get over this anemia?

genie,

If you are still anemic long past an an acute blood loss from surgery and you noted you received a transfusion to attempt to restore your RBC counts, if those counts remain low and or continue to drop then your doctor will or should do more testing to determine if you are bleeding elsewhere even microscopically, or you have a deficiency like B12, iron, etc. that is causing your persistent anemia. Once an exact cause is determined, then appropriate treatment can be instituted for example iron or B12 supplements if those deficiencies are noted to be the cause of anemia.

My doctor said I had a more than usual blood loss during the surgery. I know my hgb was 7 when I came out. They gave me 3 bags of blood post-op.
Heres a funny story..I'm in my room laying in my bed half out of it and I buzz the nurse, she comes in and I tell here that my IV is backing up, cuz I see all the blood thru the line. Dummy Me it's my trans fuse line. Then I looked down and saw I had my other IV in my other arm. And said never mind I'm just out of it . She laughed.

My doctor and the doctor said that I had "virtually no bleeding", but then I had a LSH so the laprascopic approach may produce less bleeding.

I lost less than 100 cc's during 1st surgery, 750 cc's after surgery, 50 cc's 2nd surgery. hemoglobin down to 7.6, transfused 2 units..but doc isn't worried about my blood levels??? Should I be? I take a womens multi vitamin everyday, no additional iron

Dear Lyzzy,

Yes, I think you should be concerned. One school of thought says that the body will correct itself now that you won't be losing blood during menstruation anymore, but it actually takes quite a while to build up to normal hemoglobin levels.

I was 7.7 after my second surgery (in January) and the doctor didn't want to give me any more blood (I'd already had 6 in the previous six months), but he surely did prescribe iron supplements for me.

I recently had blood work and now my hemoglobin is at the low edge of NORMAL, probably for the first time since I was eleven and got my period. It took 4 months of iron supplements and daily consumption of dark green leafy vegetables and beets.

If it's your gyn that isn't concerned about your iron, you might want to check with your gp.

Thank you, Genie. will discuss it with gp, as don't see my gyn until august..It worries me, but this is the 1st time I have ever been thru something like this, and it was a bad trip.