Fluids

[BestSisteronEarth]

My sister recently had surgery and today she has fluids in her abdomen?! She also has very high temperatures 102.7-103 Does anyone have experience with this?!!

 

[DJW]

I've had lots of post op infections. Maybe that's what she is experiencing. I have not had the fluid problem so I can't offer anything but my support. I hope the doctors sort this out quickly and your sister starts feeling better soon. Wishing your sister a speedy recovery.

 

[BestSisteronEarth]

Thank you! She is still in the hospital. Had surgery Thursday. What kind of problems did u have?

 

[DJW]

I get an incisional infection. The worst thing happened the day before I went home. I was in my teens and at the end of a very long hospital stay. I had had another resection and infection in the incision. I had a muffin for breakfast. It had a few poppy seeds in top. The nurse came in to change the dressing later that day. It had poppy seeds on the dressing. Another fistula. My heart sank. More surgery would been needed. It had been a long hard battle. I thought it was over but it was starting again. I don't know if I've ever been more disappointed. Thankfully it only happened once.

 

[BestSisteronEarth]

Poppys?? wow. What are the chances! thx for sharing! What happened exactly? How much longer did you stay? Were you at high risk?

 

[DJW]

They let me go home but more surgery was booked. The surgery had delt with the worst part of the diseased intestine which was good; I was still in much better shape after surgery than before. I tend to have very high out put after surgery (about 2 gallons a day). Always freaks everyone out. I just need extra time for the bowel to start working properly. Generally speaking I went into surgery a high risk patient. Sometimes recovery was slow because I was so sick. But I did recover and I was able to get on with life. I read the story of your sister and other young people on this forum and i can relate. I have a real soft spot in my heart your sister and other with this disease (along with their families). Keep asking questions. We're all in this together.

 

[Boloby]

I had a total colectomy on June 24 and was in the hospital for 15 days because of fluid in the abdomen. In addition to Crohn's, I have primary sclerosing cholangitis, a liver disease, which is what caused the fluid in the abdomen (ascites) and extremities (edema).

While in the hospital, I had to have a paracentesis, which is when they insert a catheter in the belly and drain the fluid. They drained 4.5 liters in total, and I felt relief for the first time since surgery (I was in constant pain the whole time). In addition, I was given diuretics -- Lasix and Aldactone, which I still take every morning, after I realized some of the ascites came back. The combination of the diuretics works great, and I think I'm pretty much back to how I was pre-surgery.

Does your sister have a liver disease?

 

[BestSisteronEarth]

No liver disease. But she's going down this afternoon to IR to get drains a in the left and right side of her abdomen. Hopefully there's no liver disease. She's super delirious confused. Very worried.

 

[Boloby]

Well, I sure hope it's not liver disease. I sincerely hope it turns out OK. She should feel better after the drain. Just hope there aren't any additional problems.

 

[Absentminded]

I had fluid in my pelvis and a huge blood clot in my abdomen after my surgery back in February and was in hospital for six weeks altogether.
The blood clot was from a rather large amount of internal bleeding, I had to have a four unit blood transfusion, and the fluid, no one really knows where that came from!!
I had abdominal drains put in for the blood clot and had the fluid draining under general anaesthetic as they had to do that through a rather uncomfortable area. In the end the fluid just disappeared, which was a relief, as I was about to have a drain put in my butt cheek!!!
I hope your sister begins to feel better very soon, I'm sure once it starts draining out she will. Having fluid internally, especially if it is infected is pretty painful, and personally I was totally out of it for at least a month while they tried to work out how to drain mine.

Should also add that since getting out of hospital in April I have felt pretty awesome, so there is light at the end off the tunnel. I have one ongoing problem with a fistula draining from my stomach, but hey I've survived worse!

Big hugs to you and your sister, hang in there!

 

[afidz]

Its good that they are putting the drains in. If the fluid doesn't have a way out, it will make its own way out and that itself can be very dangerous. By putting the drains in it should really help. Are they JP drains? they look like little granades?
I hope your sister starts feeling better soon

 

[Boloby]

So far, I've been on a combination of Lasix and Aldactone for about a week, and it's been keeping the fluids moving along. I wish they had done this when I was in the hospital. But then again, I wish they did a lot of things differently.

 

[annawato]

Post op infections generally cause pretty high temperatures so once they get her on the correct antibioics and drain the fluid things should improve quickly. They'll probably give her a chest X-ray to check for pneumonia and also urine test for UTI. Last op I had high temps and they kept doing chest xrays etc even though I was telling them it was the wound infected. Of course the doctors thought they knew better, but they didn't, the wound burst open and took nearly three months to heal. I'm sure it is very worrying and distressing for you in the meantime so stay strong.