u/littlehollowgames

On 5/20 I had an 8cm fibroid and a few other smaller ones, and chose to address it primarily for bulk reasons (pressing on bladder and bowel; looking pregnant; worried about continued rapid growth=more complex surgery). I chose a hysterectomy because I'm childfree and didn't want the fibroids to recur, and liked the bonuses of no future cancer, no more heavy periods, etc.

Some hours after the surgery I developed a pelvic hematoma, which was diagnosed the next day via CT at the ER at 11 cm. I got transfusions, antibiotics, etc. By the time they did the imaging they confirmed it had stopped bleeding. This big collection of internal bleeding plus the blood loss itself basically made my recovery take longer, I had less energy, more pain, and some pressure from the hematoma on my bladder and cuff.

By 3wpo, 6/10, I was starting to feel a bit better, and I was so happy my swelling was going down! I took the middle picture.

Because my recovery was a little tougher I continued to take it very easy until about week 4, when I started noticing bigger improvements. In a tale as old as time, I then started to do a LITTLE more, including holding my squirmy 8 month old nephew on my lap, starting to bend fully over, and spending less time horizontal and more time on my feet. I never felt new pain in the moment during any of this, but there seemed to be this cumulative thing where abdominal pain in general slowly worked its way up from like a 1 to a 3 over a few days. I definitely feel it around my incisions but deeper, not my cuff.

Today is 5wpo and I took the 3rd pic today. I also had a follow up CT scan for the hematoma 2 days ago and they confirmed it has almost completely resolved. This is great but it's still a bummer to be so swollen (and to have nothing specific to attribute it to). I'm almost back to my pre-surgery appearance and the pain regression is also discouraging. I read this sub a ton and understand this swelling can be normal for weeks and even months and I'll just have to take it easier. I'm just sad about it :(

I had been tapering the ibuprofen and tylenol doses a bit in the last 1-2 weeks but now decided to go back to the previous higher ibuprofen doses since it helps with inflammation. Along with this I'm spending more time horizontal and experimenting with icing again. I also ordered a different belly band, lower profile than the one I used in weeks 1-2 so might encourage me to wear it more, as I've read compression helps with swelling too.

So I'm posting this somewhat as a cautionary tale, although of course individual results can be very different; and also seeking any other advice for the swelling. Thanks all.