My Seroma
I don't want the blog to be just about transgender issues and other LGBTQ issues. It's a blog about my life and I pick and choose the things that I want to post. I was struggling with should I post this or should I not? I don't want to look like I'm an attention-seeking whore, but I figured that posting this may help other trans people who are having a similar experience or are worried something like this may happen to them.
A week following my surgery I noticed there was a start of a fluid build-up. I was told that a little bit of fluid is normal after a surgery like this so I didn't think too much of it. They'd removed the drains, I wasn't in any pain and I was feeling really great, although a little tired, which is to be expected. Then I noticed that the fluid wasn't being absorbed and it was starting to feel like there was a water balloon under my skin. I was hoping that it would go away on its own, especially after wearing the compression wrap basically 24 hours for 4 days, but when I took it off it was just as bad, if not worse. I called my surgeon and let them know what was going on and they asked me to come in right away so they could get a better idea of what was going on.
I went in and they saw the amount of fluid build up in my chest tissue and told me that they needed to drain it right away It was the oddest sensation that I've ever felt; the fluid sloshing around in my tissue. She numbed me up and carefully inserted the needle and pulled back on the syringe. A large collection of reddish-peach liquid started to fill the syringe. She filled up 100ml on the first go on one side. The pulled out 20ml more on the left side and that was the side that didn't feel as full to me. She did the same thing on the right side, pulling a total of 135ml out of it. She was surprised at the amount of fluid buildup but assured me that as long as I take it easy for the next week or so, it wouldn't come back and cause more problems for me.
I was supposed to start work after two weeks, but following the seroma, I was told that I needed to take an extra week off to rest in the hopes that the seroma would not come back because it was possible, especially due to the amount of fluid that they had drained out of me. I'm not going to lie, I was worried when I started to see and feel the initial fluid build-up. I didn't want this to happen. I wanted it to just go away. I felt like a bother going into the medical centre and explaining what was wrong, despite Cathy's* kindness toward me.
I don't know why, but it made me wonder if I had done something wrong. Was I being punished for finally standing up for myself and doing the surgery that I wanted to do? No, that I needed to do? Did I do something wrong? I really just wanted to cry. Why couldn't this just work out for me? I wanted this to go smoothly and it did, for the most part, I just couldn't believe the setback that I had experienced. Maybe a lot of other people experience them, they just don't talk about it.
Following the seroma incident, I started to view life a little differently. I don't mean that I was having doubts about myself, but I was having doubts of faith. Why would this happen? I was lucky that was the only issue that I had. I started to re-evaluate some of my life and have drawn new conclusions...Read about that in the next blog.
How do they drain a seroma?
It's a pretty easy procedure. Depending on what you had done, they numb you with lidocaine, slip a needle into the area and pull the fluid out using a large syringe. It doesn't hurt and it's not uncomfortable.
I went in and they saw the amount of fluid build up in my chest tissue and told me that they needed to drain it right away It was the oddest sensation that I've ever felt; the fluid sloshing around in my tissue. She numbed me up and carefully inserted the needle and pulled back on the syringe. A large collection of reddish-peach liquid started to fill the syringe. She filled up 100ml on the first go on one side. The pulled out 20ml more on the left side and that was the side that didn't feel as full to me. She did the same thing on the right side, pulling a total of 135ml out of it. She was surprised at the amount of fluid buildup but assured me that as long as I take it easy for the next week or so, it wouldn't come back and cause more problems for me.
I was supposed to start work after two weeks, but following the seroma, I was told that I needed to take an extra week off to rest in the hopes that the seroma would not come back because it was possible, especially due to the amount of fluid that they had drained out of me. I'm not going to lie, I was worried when I started to see and feel the initial fluid build-up. I didn't want this to happen. I wanted it to just go away. I felt like a bother going into the medical centre and explaining what was wrong, despite Cathy's* kindness toward me.
I don't know why, but it made me wonder if I had done something wrong. Was I being punished for finally standing up for myself and doing the surgery that I wanted to do? No, that I needed to do? Did I do something wrong? I really just wanted to cry. Why couldn't this just work out for me? I wanted this to go smoothly and it did, for the most part, I just couldn't believe the setback that I had experienced. Maybe a lot of other people experience them, they just don't talk about it.
Following the seroma incident, I started to view life a little differently. I don't mean that I was having doubts about myself, but I was having doubts of faith. Why would this happen? I was lucky that was the only issue that I had. I started to re-evaluate some of my life and have drawn new conclusions...Read about that in the next blog.
What is a seroma?
A seroma is a collection of fluid known as serum that can build up after surgical procedures where tissue is removed from the body. The fluid is a peach in colour, mine was a peachy red colour and when you develop a seroma it may need to be drained out by a medical professional. In some cases the stoma can calcify, leaving a hard knot at the site where the seroma formed. It can feel like a cyst or a water balloon trapped under the skin. Smaller seromas will dissipate on their own, the body reabsorbing the fluid on its own, but larger seromas need to be drained.
How do they drain a seroma?
It's a pretty easy procedure. Depending on what you had done, they numb you with lidocaine, slip a needle into the area and pull the fluid out using a large syringe. It doesn't hurt and it's not uncomfortable.
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