After a very successful Mx with immediate free tram flap recon in August I am still having to go for draining of an abdominal seroma every 3 weeks. I have been told that this will ‘give up the ghost’ eventually but I wondered if anyone else had had this problem and how long it lasted. My tummy is still very tight and can get very uncomfortable.
Hi Sunflower8
Sorry to hear you are still having trouble, Im sure the team at St Johns are telling ttruth it should get better. I actually went to my local nurse in Edinburgh and she was actually better despite not being a plastics specialist. Are you still going to St Johns, which nurse are you seeing, there was one there who was very nice and good but I didnt feel she used the best dressings (neither did one of her colleagues.
Are you back to work? Im back humpfing pots and pans about, but not the sacks of onions, they have been very good at work, also Im a supervisor so can delegte stuff out.
Take care
Louise
Hi Sunflower
I had a diep recon in Oct 07.
The seroma developed about 4 weeks after the op between my new belly button and the bottom of my ribcage. We thought my body would reabsorb it as this is what happened after my mx in 2005.
What happened though was that my body decided to ‘organise’ it and made a capsule around it. So I had a fluid filled lump - like a big cyst. The PS tried to drain it unsuccessfully, so I had to have it done by a Dr using ultra sound.
Because the body had formed a capsule round it, when it was drained there was an empty cavity which my body decided needed filling! - You’ve guessed it - it filled up again. I had it drained 3 times and each time it filled up again but with not quite as much fluid. I got so fed up with being stabbed with needles that I have left it. I go to see the PS next weekend to talk about scar revision and I will see what he can do about the fluid. I think he may try draining it and then injecting it with steriods to collapse the walls so it won’t fill up again.
Hope this helps - it’s good to know I’m not the on;y one with seroma!
fantan xx
Hi fantan - thank you for getting in touch. I’m having it drained using ultra sound now and it’s certainly a lot less painful now that she can see what she’s doing! I am 5 months post op so I hope it will not last as long as yours has. Hope you get rid of it!
Hi Sunflower
Saw PS today. He’s sending me for another ultrasound just to check what it is. He seems to think that there may be fat there too from when he pulled the skin down to stitch me up again. I didn’t have much tummy so was extremely tight after the op! He thinks he’ll do liposuction and that’ll get rid of it all (fat and cyst whatever it is). He’s going to sort out my scar and dogears so I figure if I’m knocked out for that he may as well do the lipo too. As my recon is smaller than my boob I’ll have to ask if he can top it up a bit with the fat he takes out!
Anyway hope yours resolves sooner rather than later.
Take care
fantan xx