Post surgery blood clot

[Vikkik04]

I had a large clot under my laparotomy insicion that started bleeding yesterday, hospital dr checked it all out and sent me home with dressings. I'm changing them 3x a day and they're saturated. How long will it bleed like this for? I had my op 16th July

[22buteo22]

Hi,

I'd be worried about your wound bleeding so long after your op and I think I'd get it checked again today. Surely it shouldn't be bleeding.

I had a lap op and got an abscess in the wound and it took weeks to clear up because I didn't get to the doctor early enough.

I do hope the bleeding stops soon!

Annie

[Vikkik04 in reply to 22buteo22]

Hi, sorry I wasnt clear, the clot didn't start bleeding until Saturday (27th) it's very dark blood, hospital said that's a good sign as it's old blood. I called the hospital I had the op done at today and they can get me in with the surgeon weds eve x

[luthien]

Is it still bleeding now?

When you say the dressings are saturated do you mean actual full on red blood, or the kind of pink watery stuff?

The full on red blood you need to really go to your GP or nurse as soon as possible because that should slow down / start to heal after 24 hours, you may need blood tests to check platelets (clotting) and white blood cells (infection). If wounds / incisions remain "open" - unhealed for longer than 48 hours there's a huge risk of infection.

If the stuff on the dressings you change are pink and watery that's a sign that healing has started and all that's coming out is a bit of blood but mainly the blood plasma (blood without the red blood cells). That should slow down, it could take weeks.

When you're changing your dressings, how does the incision look? It should look slightly pink with a layer of scab forming. Is the dressing stuck to it? Sometimes pulling the dressing reopens the wound. If the incision looks "angry", red, really hot then it's infected or could be so it'll need a trip to your GP or probably your nearest walk in center.

Did the docs say how long you should keep changing it, or how long healing should take, or what to do if it's not getting better?

If you're in the UK, you could try calling the NHS 111, they obviously just read through a list, but if they feel it's severe enough - not quite A&E kind, they can book an emergency same day GP or walk in center (walk in emergencies) appointment. I have had that a few times - it saves waiting.

[Vikkik04 in reply to luthien]

Thanks for replying. The blood is very dark, the hospital said this is a good sign as it's old blood not fresh. They said it will drain out as much is in there but didnt say how long it could take. My insicion Is very clean and it doesn't seemed to have opened, it's more like tiny perforations along it where the blood is coming out of. They did give me antibiotics the day before as they thought I had a localised infection but I now know it was red from the pressure of the clot trying to make it's way out. I called the hospital this morning and I'm going back to see my surgeon weds eve.

Thankyou for replying x

[tiger-cub]

Yes I would go to d doc immediately as I had a abscess develop too and the that had to be surgically removed too

I had many laps and it shouldn’t be bleeding rather should be healing

[Sophie_Louisa]

Hey hope everything has been getting better for you. I was wandering if I could ask out of interest when your energy levels started to go back up after your op? I had a laparotomy three months ago and I have not felt any energy increase at all since my op