[salukigirl]

I had my knee scope this morning. Apparently everything went fine. They scraped some arthritis (I'm only 24) as well as ligamentum mucosum (whatever that is). All of that is all fine and dandy....

I tell my bf my surgery present is a whopper (haven't had one in months). So we get to the drive-thru.....I see that there is blood all over his car seat. He rushes me back to the hospital and she says it's the saline leaking out and mixed with some blood but it's fine. Wraps another bandage around it and sends me off.

Get home, put the ice on it for an hour like I'm supposed to....take the ice off and there is blood EVERYWHERE. My entire bandage (2 at this point) are completely soaked and it is dripping down my leg. I call the hospital and they tell me to come in so I get there and they rush me back. They take the bandages off and there was a large wound (from one of the incisions) and the blood was pumping out every time my heart beat. It was gushing at this point.

I don't know that I've ever seen this much blood at one time in my life. They held pressure on it for 20 mins....did nothing. So my doc left his surgery he was in, shot me with epinephrine and stitched me up. Said he must have hit a surface artery while doing the procedure and that it is extremely rare for this to happen (so of course it happens to me).

I'm almost afraid to go to sleep. I haven't bled through the new bandage but, after being so calm through all of this, I am afraid of going to bed and bleeding out. Even just typing this I'm starting to cry....

[Yoda]

That must have been really scary. Did they check your H/H after they stitched up the wound? Did they give you any IV fluids while there?

Drink extra fluids for the next couple of days. When I was working with c cath patients who sometimes would later start bleeding we told them to be aware of a warm, wet feeling because you generally don't 'feel' bleeding itself.

How often are you supposed to change your bandage?

Hello, salukigirl. Hope the surgery proves to be successful.

[salukigirl]

No they didn't do any blood tests and didn't hook me up to another IV. My blood pressure was 110/57 which is normal for me and my pulse was 61 which is also normal. I didn't feel woozy or anything so they told me to remove my bandages tomorrow and put a band aid over each butterfly bandage and the stitch. I'm not allowed to shower until Friday and I'm supposed to replace the band aid after I shower also.

That was my exact wording was that my knee felt really warm. I almost want to take the bandage off and see if it's bloody but don't want to mess it up.

I guess what I'm worried about is that I am usually a stomach sleeper and move around a lot while I'm sleeping and I'm terrified that I'm going to rip it open and just bleed and not wake up...

[gma45]

Glad you went back and got it taken care of. That would be so scary, now that they have it stitched up it should get better. Take it easy, hope you can get some rest. will keep you in my prayers!

[Fresia]

I hope you will be able to rest easy from here on out and hoping for a speedy recovery. Hang in there!

[Sabrina]

How scary, well done on staying so calm. Hope you heal quickly!

[lynn P.]

Wow that's very scary and too bad you had to go back twice. I hope you'll healing quickly with good results ((salukigirl))

[salukigirl]

Thanks everyone. After a long time of laying in bed I finally fell asleep last night. Woke up and my bandage is clear so I'm hoping the shots and stitches did the job. I'm taking the bandage off when my bf gets home from work today - he wants me to wait until he is here in case I start bleeding again. Doesn't want me trying to drive to the hospital by myself.

It actually feels pretty good today. I haven't taken any of the crazy drugs they gave me (oxycodone and hydrocodone) and have been sticking to the regular pain meds. (those kinds of meds freak me out).

I appreciate everyone's support. That whole ordeal was pretty scary but I feel better now.

[Fresia]

S-
How did it go with the bandage and how are you feeling now?

Hoping things are going better. (((((((Salukigirl))))))

[salukigirl]

I took the bandage off and it was pretty gross looking but a lot of that was dried blood. Finally was able to shower yesterday and it looks much better. Swelling is starting to go down and bruises are showing up (hopefully meaning they'll start going away soon, too). The bleeding has completely stopped and I can put my weight on it for a few seconds at a time. I can start to bend it, too.

Really I'm amazed at how much it changes everyday. Especially after all the crap that happened with it. My linear regression prof has had both knees scoped and said, with my progress already, he thinks I'll be fine within a couple weeks.

I have an appt. this coming Thursday for an update on my progress.

Thanks for checking in

[popeye]

I understand about the pain meds....I have been on opiates for a few years now for arthritis and I hate it. However I can not walk without them. I go to a pain clinic so they give me the heavy duty pain meds but I am always afraid I will run out to soon and go through withdrawl. I did once when on fentynal...it was the worst I had ever felt. I hope the surgery is successful

[salukigirl]

I got out of the shower today and saw that the bandage over my stitch had started to come off. I all of a sudden had a flashback to seeing blood pour out of my leg and just started crying. I told my bf I wasn't ready to see the wound and didn't want the bandage to come off yet so he sat with me and rubbed my back until I stopped crying and helped me tape it back up.

At the time I didn't think it bothered me that much but I keep having visions of how much blood I lost. It's making me a lot crazier than I thought.

Takes a bit of time to heal. The days are passing.

[Flooded]

It's not surprising you had a flashback salukigirl. It isn't a pleasant experience seeing blood pouring out of our body

I've had five scopes personally and thankfully none with your experience.

Hope you're up running around soon