complications

[honey p]

my dad had colon cancer surgery last tuesday and while they were in there they punctured his spleen and he was bleeding internally, they cauterized that and went on with the surgery, it lasted over 6 hours and when he finally came out he didnt go to recovery he went straight to ICU.  after the 2nd day they were going to try to get him off the resperator but his hemoglobin dropped and they did a Scan to make sure he wasnt bleeding internally, they said he wasnt and that they had just given him too me IV fluids and it diluted his blood, so they gave him 2 blood transfusions.  needless to say this is the following monday and they still have not wheaned him off the life support.  we keep getting all kinds of excuses.  like this morning they said he was all of a sudden choking and they had to bag him and his vitals went crazy and then they finallly suctioned him and they think (even though the didnt get any out) that maybe he had some flim built up in there.  now they are saying we are going to do an chest x-ray and check for pneumonia and a blood gas.  ok my phone just rang and it was my mom saying that when she just went in that his blood pressure jumped to 213/74 and they gave him some meds and it is now 147/62 and his temp is 99.9.  and he is on total life support.  can you please give me any insight as to what is happening?

[Denise L. Johnson, M.D.]

The questions are difficult to answer because I lack all of the data.  Patients can stay on ventilators for months, particularly if they receive a breathing tube called a trach.  It sounds like you Dad is getting better, but try to get your doctor to answer these questions.

D

[honey p]

well i did not get any answers to my questions last night except that he does not have pneumonia and they took a sputum culture, but he does not have a fever because it did not go up to 100.4 and now they had him on spontaneous breathing all day yesterday and the plan is to try to get off the respirator today.  he still has not woke up, they have taken all sedation and pain medicine away.  so we pray he will be able to breathe on his own when they try to take him off.  can you give me any insight on how long he can be on the respirator? and what are the pros and cons of this extended period of life support measures.  Should we worry about brain or heart damage etc? and how long can his body go without food?  he is just on IV's.

[honey p]

thank you.  My father just turned 70 and other than taking blood pressure medicine, he had no other health issues, but was a smoker.  he was still a very active outdoor man. (and a work aholic) haha!  i will ask these questions to the dr. tonight, thank you and hope to talk to you again tomorrow.  

[Denise L. Johnson, M.D.]

In order to answer your questions, will need some basic information:

1)  Your fathers age
2) Preexisting conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, strokes
3) Medications he was taking

Currently he sounds as though he developed respiratory failure secondary to blood loss and fluid overload.

You need to ask your father's doctors the following questions:

1) Did he have any heart damage after surgery?
2) Did he throw a blood clot to his lung
3) Are there any signs of infection
4) How much blood did he receive during the operation.

I hope this helps

D