Fact: How do abdominal drains work? A surgical drain allows the fluid to flow out. The doctor puts a thin, flexible rubber tube into the area of your body where the fluid is likely to collect. The rubber tube carries the fluid outside your body. The most common type of surgical drain carries the fluid into a collection bulb that you empty.
Mary was up so I knew Dr. Scout was up; I checked the security camera!
He pretends to be asleep so he can bite the burglar in the butt!
We are STILL in the ER after a long night. Finally, the IR guy comes by and says the procedure will begin soon. IR is Interventional Radiology.
Did You Know? Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that performs various minimally-invasive procedures using medical imaging guidance, such as x-ray fluoroscopy, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasound. IR doctor performs both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures through very small incisions or body orifices. Diagnostic IR procedures are those intended to help make a diagnosis or guide further medical treatment, and include image-guided biopsy of a tumor or injection of an imaging contrast agent into a hollow structure, such as a blood vessel or a duct. By contrast, therapeutic IR procedures provide direct treatment—they include catheter-based medicine delivery, medical device placement (e.g., stents), and angioplasty of narrowed structures.
Fortunately. today’s procedure involved him looking at the tummy through an ultra-sound only. After a few hmm’s and ah-haw’s, he got a syringe and extracted 120 mL of fluid and a piece of lymphocele that was blocking the drain. The leak was caused by the loose material, and the fluid went around the drain! After that, the drain worked fine!
The ultrasound was an easy teat!
Except for the knee, I wanted to go home. We called the bone doctor, and he sent his PA, who recognized the pain when she saw it. I was hanging by the overhead lamp screening at the top of my lungs! The knee was very painful. Due to extreme self-control, I avoided the explicatives but I was getting close!
They brought in a portable X-Ray machine so I did not have to move. After she saw the X-Ray, she ordered an MRI, so we had to stay until almost 7:00 PM. Thank goodness Mary found a supply of oxycodone and a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol. That wonderful woman of mine makes a mean cocktail! I name the drink “Doctor Mary”.
Yummy when you are in pain!
I was loopy! Obviously, Mary drove home.
The pain was so bad that I did another cocktail and got some sleep; I knew I had an appointment with the doctor at 2:30 PM; three hours after Mary’s appointment in Long Beach.
