Heart Cath site 1 week later

[essey]

I had my heart cath 1 week ago today and will be going for my followup appointment tomorrow... however, tonight, the site is warm and hard and painful.  The day following the procedure i had severe bruising across my lower abdomen and down my right leg.  I was told i had possibly hematoma there.  Just wondering if i should be having this pain and why is the cath site hard?


This discussion is related to Is this normal after a heart cath?.

[benniesue]

I had a heart cath nine days ago and it took 35 minutes to stop the bleeding.  Had to go in for an ultrasound but all's well.  I have a hematoma under the skin but not on the blood vessle. Running low grade fever and my leg still hurts to walk and it looks horrible all the way to the knee.  Turned out my heart is perfect and it was worth the procedure to have peace of mind after the stress test showed not enough blood was getting to the lower left lobe.

[essey]

Hi Beck... thanks for your comments... been very helpful in putting my mind at ease... had the followup appointment... dr. diagnosed me with a Pseudoaneurysm of the right femoral artery and had me go today for an Ultrasound... praise the Lord, the bleeding had already stopped... isn't it amazing how the body can take over and heal itself... anyway, i'm back at home... have to continue taking care of myself, you know, no heavy lifting yadda, yadda, yadda... now i will be a good girl and do all the right things and wait for the bruising the go away... thanks for the heads up on how long that will take and letting me know what to expect.  I never even tho't about a scar but, yeah, i can definitely see how that is something else to expect.  Did you end up with any blockage?  Take care... Essey

[ItsMeBeck]

Yup, it took just about a month for all the bruising to disappear completely.. It did get better each day, you could definitely tell it was getting better, but to totally disappear it took about a month. It also seemed to get worse before it got better for some reason, like the color just turned really icky first. I definitely know the "wonder if it'll ever get better feeling". UGH! I hated to look in the mirror and see this horrible big purple/green bruise on my leg, it was a good 6 inches down my leg too, it was disgusting!! But it definitely WILL go away, all I have now are little tiny scars where the catheters were inserted, and you can only see them if you're looking for them =) Let me know what how it goes at the doctors! Good luck!

[essey]

Thanks Beck; this puts my mind at ease somewhat, however, will be seeing my cardiologist for followup today... will be interested in his assessment of all this... looks like i've been beat up, of course, all in this one area.... a month huh... every time i look at it, i wonder if i'll ever be normal again!

[ItsMeBeck]

I too had a hematoma after my EP study (pretty much the same thing as a cath, only once they get in there they do different things). I had a hard lump under the skin for quite awhile and the bruising took almost a month for it to clear up entirely. BUT if it hasn't been painful and hard this whole time, if the pain and warmth is something that has just started, you might want to give your doctor a call. Good luck!