28 November 2021
This is just a brief update on the bleeding after surgery to say things have settled down over the weekend.
When I visited Joyce in the hospital when she was there for a month, I would notice that the canister of the Wound VAC would fill with red liquid, mostly blood. At home, the canister was always filled with yellow fluids.
Thinking about it on Saturday, I realized that after a debridement, the tissue will bleed for a while. With a Wound VAC, the fluids are evacuated. But with a wet-to-dry dressing they are absorbed by the dressing.
Until they aren't.
It seems to me the recovery nurse should have kept her in the hospital overnight, given that the dressing became saturated and failed three hours after I picked her up.
Thankfully, I had just texted Salwa the LVN about bringing Joyce home Friday so she was on for Monday. So when Joyce came into the bedroom dripping blood, I was able to send her a photo and discuss what to do.
Because I wasn't expecting so much blood.
The dressing change held until the next day. And we did two today. Each one exhibited less bleeding. I've even stopped using the drape, which provides a waterproof barrier so any leakage would stay in the wound.
The dressing changes are very painful as I pull off the gauze from the debrided wound but once the throbbing stops, she's been comfortable.
Good thing we don't have white rugs, though.