She sprang a leak

@ElicBxn (64169)
United States
July 29, 2017 12:10am CST
What a year. Back at the end of September the wife got a PD catheter put in. All was good until she needed heart surgery. Because of the heart surgery, they took the catheter out and she had to start hemo-dialysis. So, on May 30th, they put a new PD catheter in. This one never felt quite right. It gave her a dull pain in the groin all the time and one we started the peritoneal dialysis again, she had some severe "drain" pain. And then, just over 2 weeks ago, she stopped having successful dialysis. After fighting with it for a week, the PD nurse told her to go get an x-ray. Then the hospital called and told her that she was having surgery in the morning - and to be there at 5:45. The surgeon didn't like the look, I guess after seeing the x-ray, and removed that catheter and put another new one in. He told me after the surgery that the tube had migrated up under her diaphragm and that was why it wasn't working. It seems it was in a dry pocket. He said she could use it right away, but the kidney doctor had to sign off on it, and it was to be "low volume" sessions. That was Friday night. The PD nurse changed the bandage on Tuesday, and then we went in again on Thursday. This time it was a little damp, she tested it and found it to be dialisate (the fluid that is used for the peritoneal dialysis.) She bandaged it up again, and we left, because the wife needed to get home and go to work. We stopped to pick up lunch and discovered at that point that her shorts, shirt and seat belt were all wet. When we got home, the wife called the nurse. She told her that we needed to do a bandage change since the wound won't heal if it stays wet. I prepare and when I take the bandage off, fluid is running down her stomach! Apparently it had been doing it for a bit. I dry it, let the fluid run into a gauze bandage, dry it again, clean it and put a new bandage on it. I hadn't even had a chance to put the supplies away and it was soaked! I finally managed to, more or less, stop the flood and rebandage her. 15 minutes later, it was soaked, again. I got it stopped again, and rebandaged, again and we agreed that, unless it was leaking out, we'd wait a couple of hours. It started leaking out again almost 2 hours later. She still had a couple more hours before she could clock out so, we did it again. Finally, she slowed down enough to let her finish. I went and chased her into the recliner shortly after she got off work. We did another bandage change then. It was still wet, but not running down her stomach. I did a final bandage change about 11:30, and she spent the night mostly laying nearly flat in the recliner. When she got up it was, only a little damp. I waited until she had signed in and taken care of the kitten. Then I brought in a "Y" bag, to see if we could get anything out of her stomach. I changed her bandage and then connected her to the "Y" bag. In the few hours she was hooked up, she got 1 milliliter out, and it showed some blood. We did another bandage change about 11:30 a.m. Despite only getting a milliliter out, she was still dry this evening. She is sleeping in the recliner across the room from me. I'm probably not going to be up much longer myself, I feel that the meds have kicked in. Not what we wanted to do, but it is what it is.
4 people like this
6 responses
@LadyDuck (502190)
• Italy
29 Jul 17
Oh my goodness what a story, I wonder if the hospital did all the necessary. I hope your wife will feel better. If you still see problems, go to see the nurse.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
It was doing pretty good until the PD nurse poked at it, that seemed to make it really gush. 24 hours now and still dry.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
@LadyDuck seems like it, will probably change it again tonight, but leaving it alone right now
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502190)
• Italy
29 Jul 17
@ElicBxn Well, if it's still dry after 24 hours, the worst should be over.
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (48120)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
29 Jul 17
Oh goodness. This is quite the incident. Hopefully, things will get better for her.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
24 hours and still dry, might want to do a bandage change, just to check, but so far, so good.
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (48120)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
29 Jul 17
@ElicBxn glad to hear it.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
29 Jul 17
Wow! What a saga. Reminds me of a line from a movie (I think it was Brazil but I could be wrong)... "her complication had a complication". Hope everything has stabilized by now.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
She was up for a while in the middle of the night, and is still dry this morning - all is good!
1 person likes this
• United States
1 Aug 17
What a battle the both of you are waging. I hope everything will work out for you both so you can relax into a more normal routine. God bless and take care of you both.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
1 Aug 17
Thanks. She has had some discharge since Friday, but nothing like the gusher she had from Thursday morning until very late Friday morning.
@shivamani10 (11035)
• Hyderabad, India
29 Jul 17
This is really a great punishment to stay in a hospital. After the introduction of specializations, the tests and analysis are becoming more and more. The patient will get another problem of visiting these rooms beside his/her own regular disease.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
Very true, although I have to say that the wife hasn't come out with anything new, and is generally better than when she went in.
@dollaboy (6048)
29 Jul 17
Sorry to know about your troubles. I hope the things get better for you and your wife soon
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
29 Jul 17
Things are doing good. She's still dry.
1 person likes this
@dollaboy (6048)
30 Jul 17
@ElicBxn best wishes
1 person likes this