Blood transfusions.

[Betheny]

They are a bad sign, no?

My mother had surgery on Friday, they said the stay would be overnight.

I assumed, with all her health problems and things of that nature, she'd be staying another day or so, because that's what usually happens when she has surgery.

As far as I know now, she isn't on a respirator, she's received at least one post-op blood transfusion, and they've got her drugged so that she's incoherent. She can't move, and my grandmother was acting very weird when I was on the phone with her earlier. She said she'd call me tonight with more details. My assumption is she didn't want to discuss anything more specific until she was out of my mom's room. But the fact that she's staying from visiting hours open til visiting hours close is frightening in and of itself. This isn't something she's done before with my mom's numerous prior surgeries and hospital stays.

I'm worried. The surgery she had was a modified hernia repair, and the surgery went two hours longer than expected.

I guess the real question is, is receiving a blood transfusion post-op something routine and not worrisome? The fact that she is that severely anemic post-op, and they have her on oxygen, and she has a tube through her nose and into her stomach is not something expected, either... I don't know if it's for feeding, or to remove stomach acid, or what.

[HarmNone]

Post operative blood transfusions are not all that unusual, especially for abdominal surgery. The tube down the nose is to prevent vomitting and the build-up of stomach acids. If she is not on a respirator, that is a good sign. :)

HarmNone

[LilHellcat]

Depending on what kind of surgery hon, blood transfusions are needed. If she is severely anemic post op though that means she lost alot of blood. Was she bleeding internally or anything that you know of? Sometimes the tube can be a fluid tube, depending on the person past history and such they add a tube sometimes to help drain fluid (I've noticed this mostly in those with heart problems or overweight people who have trouble getting around,or those without the ability to get up) It could also be a feeding tube.

Any idea why the surgery went longer than it did? I'd need more details to really tell you much. I learned alot with my own health but my grandmother who recently passed away had everything in the world wrong with her. I learned more about surgeries and stuff than I ever cared to know.

If you need anything hon let me know Hellcat Vixsyn is my IM.

I've received blood transfusions after heart surgery, and had to have 4 units of blood with my tubal pregnancy so I'm pretty used to blood transfusions also. But it sounds as if maybe she was bleeding internally, which I think with a hernia can happen. If thats the reason then no reason to worry (as long as the bleeding has stopped) she lost blood and just needs to have it replenished.

Thats about all the help I can give, without more details.

~ Amber

[Betheny]

Originally posted by HarmNone
Post operative blood transfusions are not all that unusual, especially for abdominal surgery. The tube down the nose is to prevent vomitting and the build-up of stomach acids. If she is not on a respirator, that is a good sign. :)

HarmNone

THANK YOU.

My worry isi much lessened.

I was imagining her internally bleeding and whatever...

[Betheny]

The surgery she had is a modified tummy tuck.

Two years ago, she had a hysterectomy/hernia repair. They put some mesh stuff in there to repair the hernia, and it got infected, and is still infected. then she developed another hernia in her upper abdomen. So they went in to remove the infected mesh, repair the hernias.... etcetera.

The surgery went longer because she has a ton of adhesions, since she's had numerous abdominal surgeries and has a bunch of scar tissue in there.

My grandmother said they gave her the transfusion because she's severely anemic. To my knowledge, anemia is not one of her numerous, ongoing health problems.

Being 1200 miles away, all my info is dumbed-down and pretty secondhand. I'm fluent in medical lingo, but not so much when it comes to diagnosis or procedures.

[HarmNone]

Welcome, hon! I know how worrisome it can be when a loved one is hospitalized and you are far away. One thing you can do, if you want...ask your grandmother to set up a special code word with your mother's nurse. That way, you can call the hospital, give the code word, and thus get information about your mom. Without some method of identifying you as someone who should receive information, hospital personnel are not allowed to tell you anything about patients.

Another thing you could do is to ask that the doctor be asked to call you. They are usually happy to comply with such requests.

HarmNone

[Myshel]

The blood transfusion may be because of her anemia. I'm very anemic too and when they discovered it I got transfusions. I'm sure if it was really bad they would tell you so you could come home. My prayers are with your Mom and you.

[LordSagan]

Blood transfusions are common after an invasive surgery. Also anyone who is anemic is very familiar with blood transfusions.