Post surgery hematoma on stomach - has this happened to you?

My daughter, baskettballmom, in the members file, has been having sharp pains off and on in her left side. She is four weeks out of surgery and has lost 42 pounds. Sometimes it is a dul ache. We went to for a cat scan and the Dr. said it was a fist size hematoma. When we asked him if this was normal he said no and that he didn't know what caused it. We are suppose to watch for any signs of absess that would cause fever or nausea. He said it should go away in about four weeks and then hopefully everything would go back to normal. Has anyone else had this problem? He indicated that if it did absess then they would have to use a long needle to drain the clot. This is scarry. My daughter isn't real concerned as she was more worried about adhesions and a second corrective surgery. Just to be on the safe side I would like to know if anyone else can share some knowledge of this problem.

Brenda, I did! I developed a hematoma on my abdominal muscle about 1 week post-op. It felt like a red hot poker in my stomach. By far, it was much worse than the actual surgery pain. I finally put a heating pad on my stomach and within a day, the pain was gone. My surgeon said that it wasn't normal, but it wasn't abnormal either. Be patient with her because I know how bad it hurts. Movement was very painful. Try the heating pad and see if it helps... I'll keep her in my thoughts and prayers! Dawn 12/01/2006

Dawn, Wow...that descries the pain I had last week. When I returned to work last week, I had no lifting restriction so I was just doing my usual heavy work and by Thursday my left side really hurt under the lowest incision. There was a lumpy spot inside and it felt best when I pressed on it. Luckily we had inventory on Friday and I didn't have to do any lifting but bending, fast walking and climbing stairs really hurt. I had returned to wearing my surgical binder and worried that it was a hernia. Over the weekend I rested and now today it feels all better. We'll see how it does by the end of the week. It is much better knowing what is probably was. Thank you! Molly