50 Year Old Grandma! Getting Drain-less Extended Tummy Tuck with Muscle Repair and Exparel! - Golden, CO

I was telling my dear friend (whom I met on here but have yet to meet in person), about my hematoma and I said "my hematoma thing-a-ma-bob". She said "well at least you've named it" so ever since, it is known as Bob. I went to see Dr. Vath on Wednesday so he could see Bob in person as he was out of town at the last appointment. He also tried to get more out of there but there wasn't much liquid enough yet. He said otherwise I look quite good and he's very happy with my progress. We talked about how Bob causes extreme nausea sometimes, in fact I arrived at this appointment feeling pretty awful, had extreme nausea all the way there and just couldn't kick it, riding in the car only made it worse so I was feeling pretty crappy by the time Dr. Vath made it in to see me. He prescribed me more anti-nausea medication and some antibiotics as the incisiion, although it looked very good, also had some redness he was wanting to get gone. Although my appointment was last Wednesday (the 2nd), I took new pics today to update. Since Wednesday the redness around the incision is all but gone, it was low swelling time this morning and my belly button is no longer scabbed so looks better. I see Dr. Vath again this next Tuesday and will then see about going back to work in the office instead of working from home. Hoping the nausea issue is gone by then, my office is upstairs, nearest restroom is halfway across the shop building downstairs....

Okay, so my appointment over this hematoma was a long one. Nurse used a gigantic needle/syringe and attempted to aspirate but only got a few drops. Dr. Vath was in Florida so his colleague Dr. Steinwald looked at it & he was ready to operate that day if necessary. He sent pics to Vath, they discussed for quite awhile. In the end, it was decided that I will go back on Wednesday to see Dr. Vath and it sounds like the options will be to aspirate when it turns to liquid, and if it becomes bothersome needing aspirated too often they can do a catheter thingy. Dr. Steinwald's approach was more aggressive and yet appealing to get it done and over but yet scary. Thanksgiving morning Dr. Vath called me, was afraid I would be spending the holiday worrying about this so wanted to talk to me to be sure I was okay. Dr. Vath said that the hematoma will resolve itself on it's own with no intervention. There are several different approaches doctors take but the only time he will intervene is if it is very painful (like pushing on a nerve), still actively bleeding or causing some bad issue like that. If it's big and you're really uncomfortable, they will do the needle/syringe drain thing to make you more comfortable. Mine around my belly button is a rock. It's numb so about the only issue it's causing right now is making me look all wonky crooked lol. I was concerned about this having to get it drained repeatedly like I've read about and he said no, that people are confusing a seroma with a hematoma. He said once the hematoma liquifies and is either absorbed or suctioned out, it's done and gone (unless of course there was a new active bleed but that is a different story alltogether). He said surgery would put it all better right away but it's also risky, the surgery itself, plus the tissues are all still swollen so you're looking at high risk issues of healing trying to close you back up, etc. where it WILL resolve on it's own so if you can handle the wait, it's worth it. So, I will be happy with that, see doc on Wednesday just so he can confirm it all in person, I am to keep working from home until further notice, the pressure from this hematoma puts a lot of pressure on my incision and so the lesser the movement the better right now. All of my steri-strips are still in place, but I do have some leakage in spots along my tummy, mostly in the center where the most pressure is from this hematoma. I haven't told the boss yet but hoping it shouldn't be an issue.

Back to work today, just working from home. I could really use some energy lol. Sometimes I wonder if the surgery removed some of my motivation, but then I think maybe for once I'm taking care of myself and taking my time healing the best I can. We'll go with that :-) Here is an updated tummy photo, not sure if there is change, anxious to see how the appointment goes on Wednesday to have it checked out.