organising seroma

Hi Georgie

I also have an organised seroma/hematoma.  It came from my original surgery back on 22/12/11.  I have had doctors at the hospital try and aspirate it 3 times now with no luck.  Once was under ultrasound.  What they have been able to remove went to pathology and came back with no bacteria in it.  I also have a superficial infection for which I have taken numerous antibiotics but it is still there. That came from my second surgery or drain on 19/1/12  It worries me because I am having chemo (number 3 FEC coming up next week).  My white cell count is already low and I have had to have an injection to boost it.

I agree with you that it is annoying and I also want it gone but I am sick of the pricking, prodding and poking and they have now said they want to treat it conservatively and one if I get very sick from it will they look at surgery.  If I have surgery they will have to stop the chemo and that is not a path we want to go down if we can help it.

I will be interested to see what your doctor says and see how you go.

I wish you better luck than me :-)

Mich x

Hi Mich

thanks for responding to my post - after ultra sound they have since discovered that the seroma/hematoma is heavrly clotted and can not be aspirated,  the GP thinks I my have to go back into surgery as it is getting bigger, harder and more painful by the day (it is now that large that it is like a third breast which I can now longer hold in just one hand) which he thinks means I am still bleeding in that site??  I don't really understand all this and I waiting for my surgeon to return from leave, he is not back until 16th April but I am meant to be going back to work on the 17th and I'm unsure of the outcome.....

Like you I would just like to have this thing gone ......I am starting radiation in the coming weeks but zi'm not sure if it will be a problem.  I hope yours is completed sorted out prior to your next chemo so you don't have to add that to your concerns.  As far as prodding and poking is concern I feel the same - some days it's like of for goodess sake........enough....though I am acutely aware of how caring and thoughtful everyone is when it comes to my medical team.  Good luck Georgie

Hi Georgie, I remember Chris blogged about her experience with a post-op haematoma a little while back.  You can read her blog here, if that helps: http://www.bcna.org.au/user/5378.

Good luck!

Di

Hi Georgie, you sound like you have the same thing that I had, and I wouldn't be wanting to wait till the 16th to see your surgeon, especially if it is getting harder and more painful. Mine grew very quickly, and it felt very weird. I may have had a slow leak happening over the previous days, but must have torn something while sleeping on my side for the first time. It scared me, as I could see a "third breast" appearing between my suture line and upper chest/ shoulder area. Because we were in Perth, and I was getting ready to go to the airport, we rang both my plastic surgeon and breast surgeon in Sydney. My PS said to go to the hospital and sort it out, and my BS said jump on the plane and come home. Because it had
grown fast, I was worried about flying and what it would do, so did as the PS suggested and went
to hospital. While they fiddled it just continued to
grow till I couldn't put my left arm down. They
talked of taking me to theatre and removing my
expander, to which we baulked. We convinced
the Perth plastic surgeon to speak with my plastic
surgeon, and when we were comfortable that she
would do the same as my fellow in Sydney, I went
to theatre. They did remove the expander,
cauterised the bleeder, removed the large clot,
and replaced the expander. I spent 2 and a half
days there, and came home to Sydney with
another drain for a week. It was all treated
seriously, and yours sounds like it is even bigger
than mine was, so to have to wait another 3 days
is a big ask. If you are interested, I can send you
a photo of what mine looked like just before we
went to the hospital. You can give me your
mobile number either on here, or on a private
message and I will forward it to you. At least it will
give you an idea. All up I had a collection of
about 1.2 litres of old and new blood. Good luck
with everything. Love Chris xx

Hi Georgie

I did find with mine the more they aspirated it the more it went down.  The aspiration under ultrasound was the toughest but the best as the ultrasound doctor went in to all the pockets to try and get out as much fluid as possible.  We joked that she wanted to do a better job than the two maile docs who had tried before and she won ha ha.

I wish you luck and hope treating it conservatively works for you and I am hoping it also works for me.  Did he say the radiation will affect it in any way.  I would think it would shrink it??

Take care, rest up lots (I know how hard that can be), take care of yourself.

Sounds like you have a cool doctor :-)

Mich x

Hi Mich and thanks for your response,  at this time I am try hard not to think about the aspiration (it's my needle thing )  I think Nic - my surgeon was proposing to do it in his rooms but I'm really not sure at this point. As I have not yet started radiation I believe it will be put on hold for a short time until the breast is completely healed.  From my understanding there is a fairly large window from surgery to radiation treatment, between 4-12 weeks post surgery though will discuss this with Nic when I see him on Monday.  And yeah he is a pretty cool guy for someone I never wanted to meet.  He has a lovely sense of humour and is about 6 foot 8 tall and needs to duck when walking in and out of his office which I find comical.  He spent alot of time talking to us during my first consult not just about treatment but general things me, my work, my husband, his family, our dogs and sailing.  He apologised for being smelly as he had just come from cleaning his boat - I told him he should not have come in and he said it's the reason he gives to his kids about not becoming a Dr.  He kinda reminds me of Stephen Fry on tv he just has this lovely manner about him.

Hope things with you are on the up and up and yes spending time doing lots of nothing and trying to get my husband to do things he doesn't really want to do, washing, tidying up, making beds, emptying dishwasher etc,etc, however he has just come home with the biggest bunch of sunflowers ever and we are trying to find a vase strong enough and tall enough to hold them.  Take care and hugs to you Georgie

That is so beautiful.  It is the special times that make all the other mundane chores etc, of little importance.  You lucky thing.  Enjoy your obviously lovely hubby and children.  Oh and of course your cool doc hee hee  I wasn't so lucky to have such a cool doc but they were all really lovely.  :-)

Which state are you in in Aussie?

Mich x

Hi Georgie, I think you will find that the aspiration of your liquified clot won't hurt you too much. The area is probably still quite numb from your surgery, and this clot will be occupying a space between the skin and your tissue, so when the needle goes in, there should be little sensation. Good luck with the procedure. I think my surgery was required because I needed to travel. They told me that usually these things settle down by themselves. I was worried that the pressure from my clot was going to push my expander out of my chest through the excision line, and I didn't want to be between Perth and Sydney if that happened. Love Chris xx