During transplant surgery, my peritoneal dialysis tubing was removed. For almost two years I had had a foot-long tube protruding from my abdomen through which I hooked up to tubing from my dialysis machine every night. Since Pinkie, my new kidney, was off to a fantastic start even in the OR, the surgeon removed all this unsightly mess. But he put something similar on the other side of my belly--a length of tubing attached to an avocado-sized plastic bulb to catch blood and fluids post-op, known as the Jackson-Pratt surgical drain, named, I suppose, for the inventors.
For the first week after surgery, I could never go more than two hours without emptying it. Sometimes only an hour. That meant very little sleep.
Mystical experiences, yearnings, politics, little dramas, poetry, kidney dialysis, insulin-dependent diabetes, and opportunities for gratitude.
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Drain Bag is Draining on Me!
In the last few days, it has leaked at the exit site, soaking the bandage and wetting my shirt and pants. Some days I have had to change my clothes four or five times.
Plus, pieces of tissue make their way down the tubing and into the bulb, but often they are so thick and large that they block the flow, again causing leakage at the exit site.
Today during my clinic visit, the surgeon said that I should no longer create a vacuum in the bulb by squeezing it tight after emptying. He said that, at this point, healing needs to take place, and a vacuum might be pulling out more fluid and tissue than is conducive to healing. But if there isn't a vacuum, then excess fluid can't escape through the tube and must instead leak into the bandage.
I got the bright idea to use Depends. I figured that I could pull them past the bandage covering the exit site. Even though the bandage may get soaked, my clothes will not get wet because the fluids will be absorbed by the Depends.
Well, so far that's working better than nothing, but not that great. After all, Depends were made for urine, and the exit site at my waist is a long way from that area. There isn't a lot of absorbant material in the waist band because generally that's not where it's needed.
Oh, well, this too will pass, though one cheery friend told me his father-in-law wore a Jackson-Pratt for three months! Even if that turns out to be the case, it'll all be worth it for Pinkie.
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About Me
- Heidi's heart
- Southern California, United States
- Perhaps my friend Mark summed me up best when he called me "a mystical grammarian." I am quite a mix--otherworldly, ethereal and in touch with "the beyond," yet prone to being very precise and logical, when need be. Romantic in the big-canvas meaning of the word, I see the world as an adventure, as a love poem, as a realm of beauty and wonder.
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