Tell Me Everything About your Hematoma

Sekerim

When did it appear, did you have any treatment for it and how long did it take to resolve?

I had a lumpectomy 2/13. I developed a large hematoma over the surgical site two days post surgery. The incision is next to my breast tucked under my armpit and the tumor was at the 1'o clock position. The lump looks and feels like a small lemon inserted under the skin and my breast is still very bruised and sore. At my two week post op check up the BS sent me to have an ultrasound and try to reduce it with a syringe, but the blood is so thick and vicious they were only able to get out about 4ccs and now I have another spot with a small bruise.

Three weeks out, it hasn't resolved at all and I developed bruising in a new spot. While it's not painful, it is sore and I've been advised to not work out or do any bouncing activity until it heals. Radiation is on hold until it heals and while I'm grateful to have a diagnosis that allows me time to wait, I'd really like to keep things moving, so I can deal with this and try to get back to normal.

I'll see the surgeon again Friday for him to check it. He mentioned the possibly of another surgical procedure to remove it but neither of us loved that option. There's no guarantee it would fix it and might even make it worse.

Any stories or advice are greatly appreciated.

gb2115

I had a very large hematoma from an MRI biopsy that happened a couple of days before surgery. The hematoma was extremely painful. Getting the mammogram for the pre-lumpectomy wire placement with a hurting hematoma was loads of fun. It was awful. They tried to drain it during surgery, but like yours it had already started to get thick. I did have bruising keep appearing later, and they told me it was because of blood from the surgery/biopsy sinking to different areas of the breast. The bruising took a long time to go away, but it did. So I had no treatment really, for the hematoma.

I still had radiation on time. They said it wasn't a problem. But the hematoma was mostly away from the surgical site (the biopsy that caused it was on the other side of my breast, done before surgery to rule out multiple spots of cancer, which I ended up not having). So that might have been the difference, but my RO was not bothered by the hematoma. I got the hematoma early November and I think it didn't fully dissolve until well into radiation, maybe January, late January.