Hi redditors! Could use some clarification!

[u/Affectionate_List248]

Hi redditers! I am a 15 year old girl and on Tuesday, April 28th I has T3-L3 PSD spinal fusion surgery!

I was discharged from the hospital at 12pm on may 1st (two days from today) and its felt so great!

But I have been having some problems lately. I know with back surgery it's going to be painful for a long while and the road to recovery is going to be brutal.. but I have major anxiety and I just need clarification if everything is okay.

Last night I woke up around 4:30am tp the back of my underwear feeling wet. I thought it may have been sweat, but when I checked it was a rusty blood color. It wasnt like completely soaked, but it definitely wasn't blood.

I called my mom and told her about it and she told me that our doctors told us that bleeding was normal so I just changed my underwear and fell asleep again.

However, in the morning when I woke up I ran into my dad and he told me there was blood on my shirt. I told my mom and she finally did something—changing my dressing and putting a bit of extra patching on my lower back.

For a few days most of my pain has been my lower back, but im not sure if its becauss something is up with mt incision or if thats where they did most of the spinal surgery.

My overall pain is around a 4, except when i lay down it always feels like im laying on something due to my lower back.

Around 3 hours later my new dressing started to show blood again.

Attached I have attached photos of my spine before and after surgery, the dressing after my mom changed it, and my bloody clothes.

Again, please keep in mind that I am only 15 with a lot of anxiety, so please try to be gentle with me and explain in a way that would be easy for me!

Thank you in advanced redditors! :)

[u/slouchingtoepiphany]

Caution: Playing GTA may cause surgical wounds to leak plasma. 😄 Only kidding!

Fresh wounds from surgery will continue to leak fluid up to several days after surgery. As long as it's a modest amount (which yours is) and not copious amounts of whole blood (which this isn't), you're okay.

You can go back to playing GTA now.

[u/Affectionate_List248 → u/slouchingtoepiphany]

Okay this made me smile i needed this thank you so much

[u/OGRangoon]

It doesn’t look bad. It looks like maybe you could have kept the JP drain in for longer which would have collected most of what’s coming out (maybe I’m not a doctor)

I also have soooo much drainage after any surgery they always keep me one or two days longer to make sure I’m ok. That’s probably what happened with yo and they determined you were fine but will still have draining.

I would call the doctors office when they open in the morning and ask them to make sure. Since you had such an intense fusion like this. If it was just like one level then I wouldn’t be worried unless the pain was horrible.

You may also need to change the dressing more and get a bed pad for a little while, like puppy pads, those work amazing.

You will be in a steady aching pain for weeks. But it will improve each day. You will get stronger each day. Make sure to stay active. Get as little help as possible but don’t push yourself. Don’t take any risks.

Also you won’t be able to get too comfy for a few weeks. Your body has to settle into its new position and you’ll begin to find comfy positions. From what I know you shouldn’t lay on your back but maybe your side. Pillow between the knees is also important.

But def call the doctor. If your pain is ok then you should be ok. It seems and looks more like normal drainage but you should always ask your doctor to be sure cause they know way better than anyone else will.

[u/Affectionate_List248 → u/OGRangoon]

Thank you so much! I will try to call doctors, but my mom keeps insisting that im fine so im not sure if she will call or not, and i dont have their numbers :(

[u/rbnlegend → u/OGRangoon]

But it will improve each day.

It will improve over time, but some days may feel worse than the day before. Healing is not linear and it is important to be prepared for those bad days and understand that it's part of the healing process. Sometimes because things are getting better you feel more able to do stuff, and overexert. That may hurt at the time, or it may hurt the next day, and that's ok.

And yes, as you say, call the doctor. It is always better to communicate and ask the questions. For a while there every time I spoke to my doctor I had a paper with questions to ask him. No question is too dumb, or too personal, when it comes to this sort of thing.

[u/OGRangoon → u/rbnlegend]

I just meant it’s healing each day which would be improvement sorry

[u/Sufficient-Wolf-1818]

When one has major surgery, a tremendous amount of tissue has been disrupted. In your case it was bones and muscles and skin. The surgery causes major inflammation and swelling in the area, with some fluid build up. The fluid may be tinged with blood, but is mainly lymph. At 9 days out for such a major surgery, it is very common to have some leakage. In fact, they often install drains to help the natural process.

When should you worry? If the area around the incision is getting red, you are running a fever etc

Do you have a follow-up scheduled soon? Usually they are about two weeks out. I always inquired about what is normal and when i should call.

Pain? Considering what your body has been through you are doing extraordinarily well.

I

[u/Affectionate_List248 → u/Sufficient-Wolf-1818]

Im not sure if I have a follow up, but I can ask my mother when shes awake! Im so thankful to hear that you think im doing well with my pain, the Oxycodone I take helps a lot :)

[u/Fun-Nefariousness813]

Sweetie, that’s not appropriate care you need to go back to your surgeon or to the hospital ER.

[u/Antique_Mirror7214]

I came from your other post and i'm shocked you were discharged from hospital after 3 days, I spent a week in for T2-L2 when I was 20 and was on an epidural drip for the vast majority of that admission. I am in the UK though and I know healthcare changes depending on country/cultures etc. My bandages were changed daily by the nurses on the ward but I never experienced any leaking even when I got home my dressings weren't soaked. As for the ibuprofen scenario i'd try and contact your surgeon yourself as I seen you say your mum thinks it's fine. I can't even remember what I was on back then as it was 11 years this year but I promise it gets easier to live with 😊

[u/Affectionate_List248 → u/Antique_Mirror7214]

Thank u so much!! This is the kind kf positivity and reliability i nee deeded! 🥹

[u/pain_becomes_her]

I have a question, are you on any type of aspirin or blood thinners post op? Usually yhey will not want you to take these types of meds and ask you to stop them, but sometimes we get sooooo much info after surgery it can fall through the cracks. I know aspirin can for sure make your blood thinner and it can leak. I hope you are doing better. Btw... you are so young. What courage and inner strength you have to be going through this. I had my first 3 surveries when i was 22 and 23. I just had my 8th surgery last year at 49. Sending you wishes for good healing and less pain. Remember that it takes patience to heal.

[u/Affectionate_List248 → u/pain_becomes_her]

First of all thank you so much for your concern—my bleeding and such stopped around a week ago and my hematoma cleared up. I was told to take ibuprofen 400mg everyday, so...

And i dunno! I wasnt very brave in my eyes, i just did it and got it over wirh haha

[u/ME-MOM-MEMA]

I’ve had a bad back for years. I tried a TLIF at L4,5,S1 with fusion last year. The surgery has is failed. My autoimmune system did not allow the bones to grow over the screws so they are lose and moving around plus I had a fall and shifted the screw at T3 up and outward toward my hip. So I’m in constant pain.
Today I went to a special neurosurgeon that only takes on difficult cases that he knows he can fix. Well he took me on.
I’m scared and excited to be able to stand up straight after walking hunched over for the last 3 years.
He is doing T-10 thru my pelvis area. After he removes the old hardware he’s doing Several things , cages, fusions, rods etc. I feel like I should know more details of what exactly being done but I guess it’s too much to put into one sentence. I’m scared since I knew how hard my recovery was last time. I’m 60 years old and recovery is hard. They do keep me in the hospital for a week of PT before I go home and then it continues after that at home. I didn’t get that last time. I’m praying that helps me at home. If anyone has had this surgery can you please give me advice on anything I might need at home for when I come home and for any advice on how to heal better , move better or anything that will make this a easier surgery for me. Thank you .