incision bleeding...please help

wow have i gotten myself in a mess. i am now 16 days post op from abdominal hyster, removal of everything...plus a panniculectomy. i am cut hip to hip. i appeared to be healing well then on day 12 my incision opened and began bleeding alot. i went to th er and they packed it.....very losely and sent me home...it continued to bleed. as well a second spot opened and began bleeding. next day went to dr who packed both openings with alot of packing and said if bleeding does not slow i will need to see a surgeon to see about opeining me up to see where bleeding is coming from. this packing seems to be working only oozing mildly now however another spot opened and needed to be packed today. dr says cbc was only 9 and i am anemic...put me on iron. to make this all worse i am in kentucky 500 miles from where i had my surgery in hamilton ontario canada. i can not travel back to the surgeon who did my surgery so have been seeing drs who dont even know me....to top it off i have no medical coverage in the united states....omg.....please pray for me

Hi! I had a panniculectomy along with my TAH, so I can relate to some of what you're feeling right now. I also had a hip-to-hip incision, which the surgeons left mostly open to allow it to heal from the inside out. It actually took ten full weeks for my incision to close.

At somewhere around the two week mark, I got out of the shower one day to find that there was blood streaming down my legs -- and I was very, very frightened (naturally). However, I did manage to get it stopped.

My best advice I can give is to just be patient. I know that's very difficult. You might want to call the surgeon or nurses and see if you should be doing anything special with your incision.

My instructions for incision care were as follows: In the morning, I was to take a warm shower and allow the water to just sort of cascade over the incision area, but not allow it to hit directly. I wasn't really supposed to mess with it much as far as cleaning went. After my shower, I was to lie on the bed and allow the area to completely air-dry. (This took about 45 minutes -- I got lots of TV watching in during this time.) Then dh put fresh bandages on.

In the evening, I repeated this procedure, with one change: I didn't take a shower, but instead took warm, wrung-out towels (always clean!) and pressed them on the incision area to clean it. Then I air-dried and dh put new bandages on.

One thing I can caution you on is that you should not let it go if it continues to bleed. My "bleeding" incident may have been a warning, because several months after my surgery I was found to have a large, unresolved hematoma running along my incision line, in front of my abdominal wall. I'm not saying you have a hematoma, but bleeding isn't to be taken lightly and it needs to be investigated if it continues.

to you. I hope this helps.

hystersisterlee,
I'm sorry that you're having such a difficult time.
mjd2491 gave you great advice.
If you find yourself breathing heavily after walking a few steps or
you are feel faint, go to the ER right away. Don't worry about the
insurance issues right now. You have to take care of your health.
Ask the doctors' office employees or someone at a local hospital
if you might be eligible for charity care.
I hope that you recover without the need for another surgery.
I will keep you in my prayers.