Post Op abdominal bruising

[Riverdude 1]

I am 5 days post op and I have some serious bruising on my abdomen. It started as a 5 inch diameter the day I was discharged and was told it was normal, 2 days at home it was getting larger so I called the surgeon and the hospital. Was told that it was normal and asked about lifting, straining or other activity. I have not done any of the above, especially after seeing this bruising. I have a meeting with the surgeon in a couple of hours and hopefully he will tell me what I need to do.

Just wanted to see if this is common or if my case is isolated. Someone told me that the blood clotting medicine can cause this, but if its not common, why me???

I am attaching a photo of my stomach that I took this morning.

[MrsG 329]

Omg you poor thing!! I had to do the blood clotting shots for 2 weeks after and I did have bruising but not as severe as this. Are you normally an easy bruiser? I'm glad you are seeing the surgeon to find out what's up. Make sure to post an update!

[Johnatwi 23]

No way in HELL is that common. I had very tiny light bruising around my incisions that went away in a couple days but never had anything like this, nor have I seen anything like this. Glad you're getting it checked out. I'm hoping your surgeon just isn't picturing how big and serious that thing looks and he just isn't saying its normal because he has no Idea what he is talking about.

[kshallow 9]

Curious to know what your surgeon says...I also had some mega bruising similar to your pic. I was told in the hospital it was definately more severe bruising than what is typical but just my own body's reaction to surgery (I also had the band removed, too) as well as the blood thinner meds

[JProx 161]

Wow, My wife's tummy had light marks,nothing like that.

[Riverdude 1]

I will post the outcome of my visit with the surgeon, just after noon.

[TNsleeve 7]

My wife's bruise was like yours and I had just a small one. Our surgeon told use it was normal for some people to bruise bad and others not. She also said on us she had a tuff time removing the stomach on my wife. That's where it came out.

[JerseyGirl68 1,172]

Hi there,

While I agree that getting it checked it the way to go, I have seen the heprin shots cause bruising like that. I didn't react to it that way, but my sister did. She had HUGE bruises every place they injected her. Hopefully that is all it is. Good luck, I hope that is all it is.

[lilmely08 27]

OMG, that's a lot of bruising around your incision sites...I don't think that's normal. I had a little bruising from the injection shots but nothing like yours...u should stop into your doctors office and SHOW your abdomen to him/her instead of doing it over the phone.

[Riverdude 1]

I did have a nurse that gave me 2 of my hepren shots in my arm and then 2 in my stomach. My major concern is that its gotten so much worse days after I have left the hospital.

[JerseyGirl68 1,172]

I did have a nurse that gave me 2 of my hepren shots in my arm and then 2 in my stomach. My major concern is that its gotten so much worse days after I have left the hospital.

My sis had the same thing happen,it got worse as the days went on. Did your arm bruise also?

[Losin4good 691]

I am in a support group of over 100 people. Many were posting their bruising after surgery just to compare.

It varies person to person. I had very light bruising, while some people had severe bruising.

Glad you are getting it looked at, as thats the safest thing to do early on post op. i think you fall into the pretty severe bruising category, but i wouldn't say its completely uncommon.

[Riverdude 1]

Sorry for the delay in posting the results of my doctors visit.

My surgeon was very calm and did a lot of checking m abdomen prior to saying anything. He let me know that there was no hardening of the blood below my skin and that I really had nothing to worry about. If it got any larger then he wanted me to come back. Although this does not happen all the time, it is not rare. He let me know that the Heprin injections for blood clots are the probable reason that this happened. I was injected 2 times in the stomach with Heprin while in the hospital.

Soo, it looks nasty but it is not something that is serious. I was very happy for the news and am ready to get back to focusing on getting my fluids in and healing!

Just wanted to pass this on and thank EVERYONE for the concern and words of encouragement. This is a great forum and place for sleevers to be with friends.

Stephen

[Lawrence Washington 124]

im sooo glad i saw this here and not on my stomach during my surgery which is coming up... Now if i do get this... I will know.. thanks!

[loseitsoon 157]

I didn't have any bruising. I did have some heprin shots in the hospital. I did have bruising like that when I had my knee replaced.