Pain, Uncomfortable, Advice Please???

I had an abdominal Hysterectomy on 4/26.  I was in the hospital 3 days.  I was discharged with a fever but told to keep an eye on it.  On 5/5 the pain was so bad and the fever had went up to 101.6 the night before.  I was sent for blood work and an ultra sound.  After the ultra sound, they called the ob/gyn who sent me back to the hospital and had me admitted.  I was gushing blood like substance from my vagina and by the time I got to the ultra sound, I could not pee anymore (literally nothing would come out).  I was put on antibiotics and on 5/7 I had a drainage tube put in (a VERY PAINFUL PROCEDURE) because I was told that I had abscess.  On 5/9 it was taken out because they said it wasn't an abscess it was a hematoma (the drainage tube had not drained anything and had caused A LOT of pain).  On 5/11 I was discharged saying that the hematoma was 50% smaller than it had been on 5/5 and would probably continue to drain vaginally like it had been and that it should take care of itself within the next month or so.  The drainage vaginally has stopped (I assume because that area where the doctor had put stitches has healed and there is no exit for fluid.  The doctor said the pain may never go away.  They also make no apologies for putting in the drainage tube that I didn't need.  It's now been 5 weeks and it still hurts to urinate and I had a new ultrasound on 5/20 and the hematoma has not gotten any smaller (it is still at half size) since I left the hospital.  I can't sleep at night because there is pain in my abdomen and just a general uncomfortable feeling when I lay down.  I know it isn't any sort of infection because my blood work was normal on 5/20.  Can I get a professional opinion on all of this?  Please?  I live in a small town and there isn't a lot of places to turn...

[Erich T Wyckoff, MD]

Greetings Mindy1977,
Sorry to hear of your discomforts. I am always careful to counsel all patients on the risk of surgery. Surgery is not without risk and you are describing a common post-op complication of hysterectomy-- hematoma versus abscess formation. Both of entities often require incision and drainage and are not easily diffentiated from each other. It does concern me that you are now having urinary symptoms associated with a suspected hematoma that may not be resolving. You must follow-up  with your gynecologist to discuss your treatment options wich may require surgical evaluation of the urogenital tract and surgical evacuation of a nonresolving hematoma with or without prophylactic antibiotic therapy. Best Wishes!