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Seroma Explosion
by wpfloor3, Nov 29, 2007 07:59AM
I had surgery on my back to remove a fairly large (about the size of a tennis ball, non-cancerous) mass between my right should blade and spine. The surgeon said it was even larger than he thought once he got in there, and that is went clear down to my chest cavity. Had to take out a good bit of the muscle and a lot of tissue, leaving about a half-baseball-sized indent where the mass used to be. I am into my 2nd week (13 days) since surgery.
Saw the surgeon after 4 days, and was told all was wel, but that he had removed a ton of stuff, that the "hole" that was left would fill in within 6-8 months, and that I should leave it open, let the steristrips covering the stitches fall off on their own, and see him again in a couple of weeks to remove the stitches and re-check everything. I have not even had it covered for 8 days and experienced no drainage. Until yesterday.
I had noticed about a week ago that a "wall" was building up around the perimeter of the dent left by surgery, but I figured it was just fluid and stuff that was part of the healing process. It just looked weird. However, about that same time, I started really being uncomfortable with pain, low-grade fever. The pain was through my shoulders and into my neck and tops of my arms, but again, I figured it was all part of the healing process. Until yesterday.
The night before last, I looked at my back in a mirror and noted to my wife that the area around the dent was getting quite large, looking a lot like the original mass had in size. Then yesterday, I had an appointment at the hospital for something totally unrelaetd, and as I drove home, it had turned very cold here in Denver, so I turned on our heated seats.
Not a minute later, I experienced a really hot flash across my back and wondered to myself, "What the hell's wrong with this seat -- it is really HOT?!?" only to immediately follow that thought by this one: "Wait, the backs of these seats aren't heated!"
But it was H-O-T, so I reached back there to feel the seat, and when I leaned forward, I could tell that I was SOAKED. Even my outside jacket was completely drenched on the outside, and the car seat was very wet. And then I felt it -- a hot "wall" of liquid going down my back.
Called my wife and told her to meet me in the bathroom of our bedroom when I got home (I was only a minute or so away at that point), and when I started peeling off clothing, my jacket was soaked with this reddish, water-consistency fluid, my shirt was TOTALLY soaked with it -- even my pants had soaked through and my underwear. It had gone clear down to my socks!
I mean, I FREAKED out. I phoned the office of the surgeon, and of course he wasn't available, but I was told he would call back within 45 minutes, but "just in case" he didn't, was given emergency numbers and all that ****. Sure enough, he didn't call, so I called the emergency number.
To cut to the chase, another doctor -- an orthopaedic surgeon -- called me back to see what was going on. He proceeded to tell me it sounded like I had developed a SEROMA, and that I should probably go to the ER (it was now early evening) to let them check it out, as often when seromas develop from this type of surgery, they indicate infection. When I asked what all they might do, especially if it was infected, it sounded like an all-night-in-ER deal -- something I was not at all up for.
(By the way, my surgeon still has not called as I type this -- but then, it's only been 14 hours ... don't want to interrupt his dinner or TV or sleep or breakfast or anything like that just because I've lost a gallon or so of a red, yellowish, smelly fluid from an incision he made on my back, right?)
-- ANYHOW --
Before I go off on a cynical and sarcastic rant, and without trying to justify myself about the following because it is not the point of this post, I eventually chose to NOT go to the ER. After about 3 hours, the draining had stopped and the redness significantly subsided, so I figured it could wait overnight, and I could see my surgeon this morning in clinic. I REALLY want to see my surgeon.
But during the night, I turned over in bed, only to be awakened from a very shallow sleep by that same feeling, i.e., that I was being soaked in wet, hot fluid. I was. So after another round of changes and cleaning up, I chose to not lie down any more, but instead to wait out the night till I can see this guy about what might be going on.
The surgeon on call who actually did phone me explained to me what a seroma is, why it sometimes develops, what can be done about it, etc., so that is NOT why I am posting.
The reason I am posting is to ask: Has anyone else ever gone through anything like this under similar circumstancess? If so, what did you do? What was the final outcome? Did the seroma become infected? Did they have to re-open the wound? Did they have to place a drain? etc.
I will be heading over there in about an hour, but will check to see if there are any responses before I leave and then again when I get home, which will be early this afternoon (I have another appointment while I am there for something unrelated.)
Folks, I will probably not respond to most posts, as I also am disabled, with severe RA, Chron's Disease, and a few other goodies, and have troubled doing things like typing. But obviously I can if I am motivated (as I am with this post!) or if you directly ask me to. If you do ask, I promise a reply.
Thanks very much.
BillF
Saw the surgeon after 4 days, and was told all was wel, but that he had removed a ton of stuff, that the "hole" that was left would fill in within 6-8 months, and that I should leave it open, let the steristrips covering the stitches fall off on their own, and see him again in a couple of weeks to remove the stitches and re-check everything. I have not even had it covered for 8 days and experienced no drainage. Until yesterday.
I had noticed about a week ago that a "wall" was building up around the perimeter of the dent left by surgery, but I figured it was just fluid and stuff that was part of the healing process. It just looked weird. However, about that same time, I started really being uncomfortable with pain, low-grade fever. The pain was through my shoulders and into my neck and tops of my arms, but again, I figured it was all part of the healing process. Until yesterday.
The night before last, I looked at my back in a mirror and noted to my wife that the area around the dent was getting quite large, looking a lot like the original mass had in size. Then yesterday, I had an appointment at the hospital for something totally unrelaetd, and as I drove home, it had turned very cold here in Denver, so I turned on our heated seats.
Not a minute later, I experienced a really hot flash across my back and wondered to myself, "What the hell's wrong with this seat -- it is really HOT?!?" only to immediately follow that thought by this one: "Wait, the backs of these seats aren't heated!"
But it was H-O-T, so I reached back there to feel the seat, and when I leaned forward, I could tell that I was SOAKED. Even my outside jacket was completely drenched on the outside, and the car seat was very wet. And then I felt it -- a hot "wall" of liquid going down my back.
Called my wife and told her to meet me in the bathroom of our bedroom when I got home (I was only a minute or so away at that point), and when I started peeling off clothing, my jacket was soaked with this reddish, water-consistency fluid, my shirt was TOTALLY soaked with it -- even my pants had soaked through and my underwear. It had gone clear down to my socks!
I mean, I FREAKED out. I phoned the office of the surgeon, and of course he wasn't available, but I was told he would call back within 45 minutes, but "just in case" he didn't, was given emergency numbers and all that ****. Sure enough, he didn't call, so I called the emergency number.
To cut to the chase, another doctor -- an orthopaedic surgeon -- called me back to see what was going on. He proceeded to tell me it sounded like I had developed a SEROMA, and that I should probably go to the ER (it was now early evening) to let them check it out, as often when seromas develop from this type of surgery, they indicate infection. When I asked what all they might do, especially if it was infected, it sounded like an all-night-in-ER deal -- something I was not at all up for.
(By the way, my surgeon still has not called as I type this -- but then, it's only been 14 hours ... don't want to interrupt his dinner or TV or sleep or breakfast or anything like that just because I've lost a gallon or so of a red, yellowish, smelly fluid from an incision he made on my back, right?)
-- ANYHOW --
Before I go off on a cynical and sarcastic rant, and without trying to justify myself about the following because it is not the point of this post, I eventually chose to NOT go to the ER. After about 3 hours, the draining had stopped and the redness significantly subsided, so I figured it could wait overnight, and I could see my surgeon this morning in clinic. I REALLY want to see my surgeon.
But during the night, I turned over in bed, only to be awakened from a very shallow sleep by that same feeling, i.e., that I was being soaked in wet, hot fluid. I was. So after another round of changes and cleaning up, I chose to not lie down any more, but instead to wait out the night till I can see this guy about what might be going on.
The surgeon on call who actually did phone me explained to me what a seroma is, why it sometimes develops, what can be done about it, etc., so that is NOT why I am posting.
The reason I am posting is to ask: Has anyone else ever gone through anything like this under similar circumstancess? If so, what did you do? What was the final outcome? Did the seroma become infected? Did they have to re-open the wound? Did they have to place a drain? etc.
I will be heading over there in about an hour, but will check to see if there are any responses before I leave and then again when I get home, which will be early this afternoon (I have another appointment while I am there for something unrelated.)
Folks, I will probably not respond to most posts, as I also am disabled, with severe RA, Chron's Disease, and a few other goodies, and have troubled doing things like typing. But obviously I can if I am motivated (as I am with this post!) or if you directly ask me to. If you do ask, I promise a reply.
Thanks very much.
BillF
Post Comment
Thanks for your post - it helps to know I'm not the only one to develop a seroma...I had a similar surgery to remove a tennis ball-size lipoma on my back, and about 2 weeks later (day 15 was yesterday), the surgery site started swelling and getting very painful. I went back to my surgeon and he said nonchalantly that it was a seroma, explained what it is, and said it'll go away on it own in a few weeks, but if it was bothering me he could drain it with by sticking it with a needle but that comes with a risk of infection. I decided not to do the needle. He also said that the fluid may seep out on it's own and if that happens, just keep it cleaned up - sounds like that's what happened to you except instead of seeping, yours burst!!
Anyway, what was the final outcome of your seroma episode? Hopefully, you've recovered fully with no other complications?
Thanks for any feedback.
EdF