Black Blood

Went to surgeon about pockets of fluid building up in my chest. He drained 80 ml. from the left side and 60 ml. from the right. Unlike previous drained fluid, which was watery with slightly red tinge, today’s was very dark red, almost black.

Doc said it might be a cut or popped blood vessel that’s filled the cavity with blood. Said stress on blood vessel may have caused rupture and bleeding. Need to refrain from too much strain on arms and chest. No more yoga.

The fluid build-up has worried me for a while. The bulging was bigger and more solid than before -- not like liquid, but a sack of gelatin. On the right side, it was like a crater where the scar is -- flat in the middle with a donut-shaped hard mass around it. Surgeon said it’s unusual to have fluid this long after surgery, but maybe because he did a skin-sparing mastectomy, there’s a lot of room in there for fluid to collect.

Doc also look at the skin lesion, which looked worse than before -- raw, red, open wound. He wasn’t sure why it was taking so long for the wound to heal. He prescribed a course of antibiotics to prevent infection. He said to avoid shellfish. There’s no scientific evidence, but he said the Chinese believe that shellfish impedes wound healing.

Since I’ve given up meat, I’ve been eating more shellfish than usual. I’ll stop now.