difficult recovery -- need a reality check

Brooklyn1234

Hi all,

I'm starting to panic a bit. I had a double mastectomy 12 days ago. My left side is fine but the right (which also had lymph nodes taken) has been a problem since the beginning. In the hospital I was bleeding too much and ended up passing out and needing a transfusion. At home after a couple of days the volume and amount of blood in my drain started to go down but then it went back up and has stayed between 75 and 90 per 24 hours with a dark red colour. (I will say I only have one drain on that side, whereas it seems like most people who have nodes removed get two). Also, I've been getting spotting from my incision, which the nursing clinic is dealing with. I am definitely getting in touch with my surgeon today, but in the meantime, anybody else been in my shoes? I just want to know that there's nothing terrible wrong and that things will get better. Maybe they should have brought me back to the OR to fix this bleeding on the day of surgery....thank you!

bcincolorado

Hi Brooklyn,

I think if you are concerned you should be able to call your breast surgeon office and tell them what is going on and they can advise if you should go to the hospital or get you in to be checked out. If something is wrong you do not want to wait to hear from them and they can check with the doctor.

Hoping for a good recovery.

Yogatyme

I had double mastectomy w/ nodes out on rt side in August. I only had one drain per side. I was advised if drainage was dark red to contact the breast clinic. I hope you are able to get this resolved soon.