Hematoma Madness!

So of course my recovery from hip replacement surgery couldn’t just be….”smooth”.  Nope.

Two days before this incident, I took a picture of my thigh.  It looks fine here, but in retrospect, I can kinda see a bump forming on my thigh below the steri-strips.  Take into account that I have ZERO hips.

On labour day, my father and I went out for breakfast.  When I woke up that day, I noticed a small bump on my leg below the incision.  Nothing major-barely noticeable. So Dad and I went out for breakfast, and then to the mall.  Dad wheeled me around in the wheelchair.

When we got home, I got into bed and started doing some homework. My brother had come over for a visit and was in my room.  When he was there, I happened to glance at my leg again.  The bump was bigger.  I asked my brother, who was at least 6 feet away from me, if he could see the bump on my thigh.  He said that he could.  He suggested that it was perhaps just my leg healing.  When he left, I decided to take a picture of the bump.

I told my Dad about it and showed the bump to him.  We both decided that we should have a medical professional look at it, so Dad called my uncle (ER Nurse who also removed my staples) to take a look.  My uncle got to my house in about 20 minutes.

After examining the bump, he said that he felt that it was a hematoma.  It being labour day and after 6pm, he suggested that I go to get it checked out the following day.  I agreed.

Shortly after my uncle left, the bump REALLY started to hurt.  My mom wondered if it was because the bump had just been poked and prodded for the last half an hour.  I didn’t know…all  I knew was that it hurt.  I took another picture and compared the two.  The bump had gotten noticeably larger.

That’s it…we’re going to emerg..now.

When Dad and I got there, it was quite (and shockingly) empty.  I got called in after about 5 minutes.  When the doctor finally looked at it, she agreed that she thought it might be a hematoma, but would need to do an ultrasound to confirm.  Unfortunately, there were no ultrasound techs available that day so I’d have to come back tomorrow.  She put my name in the book for 9am.  A transporter came to wheel me to x-ray.

When I got to x-ray, the two x-ray techs had me bend and pose in uncomfortable and down right painful ways.  I was on the brink of tears as the transporter wheeled me back to my space in the ER.  I was paralyzed with pain.  The doctor, who had already authorized a 1mg pill of morphine, told the nurse to give me another dose as I was clearly still in pain. I received the second dose (it didn’t help either).

The doctor gave us a prescription for more morphine and sent us on our way to return in the morning.  Thankfully the pharmacy was open and I was able to get the medication.  Unthankfully…the medication did nothing for me and I whimpered in pain all night.

The following day, my sister took me back to emergency.  I had the ultrasound done by the tech.  A doctor came in moments later to look himself.  He asked me if I had had any trauma to the area, such as a fall, a bump,etc.  I hadn’t.  He found it odd that such a hematoma would appear without trauma.  *shrugs*.

Back to emergency now.  The doctor saw me and wanted to do blood work.  I was sitting in the ER hallway when a nurse came up to me with tubes and a needle, ready to draw blood.  I asked her if she planned on drawing the blood right here in the hallway and she said yes.  “Interesting…” I said, as I found it odd to draw blood in the middle of a hallway with tons of people scurrying about.  My sister piped up and stated that it would be preferable if we could take the blood in the adjacent EMPTY room. “Uh..sure.  If that’s what you want” the nurse said.  Oh brother.

Anyhow, in the meantime, the ER Doctor called the ortho doctor.  When the ortho doctor (Andrew) came in, he looked at my thigh and said he was going to speak to my surgeon.  He returned shortly after and said he was going to have my take anti-inflammatory pills.  He also gave me 2 oxycodone pills as well as a prescription.  These pills definitely helped with the pain.  He said that if the swelling did not go down after a couple of days, I should come back.  He said that he did not want to tap the hematoma right away, as infection is always a concern when it comes to tapping.  I kinda wish they would tap it-just get all the junk outta there and let’s go!

The following day, the bump looked more or less the same, and it still looks the same today.  I’m hoping the anti-inflammatory drugs kick in soon.

I will keep you posted about my hematoma madness!