Doctors Oops!

My father-in-law was in a not-so-good situation after the first night. After he (and my husband) where moved into their rooms (they were on the same floor, but about 10 rooms apart) it was discovered that his drainage fluid (they both had drainage bulbs for the excess fluid from the surgery) was darker then it should be.


The nurse explained that he was bleeding somewhere inside and she was not sure where or how. So, she took action right away in hopes that her theory would work. If it didn't, he would have to go back into surgery to find the problem.


The nurse started him on a clotting agent to see if that would work. After a little while it slowed down, but the fluid was still darker then she liked it. Then she upped the clotting agent and then ordered him a pint of blood. After that pint was done going into his system, it was late evening. She wanted to hook him up to another one, just to be safe.


By the early morning of the third day it had stopped. Phew!The nurse explained, the bleeding was from a small vain the surgeons either nicked or didn't reconnect during surgery. Since alot of the blood flow during surgery is slowed down, it could have been something they missed. I'm just glad that she caught it!


This was his only complication from the surgery. And his coloring does get better!