Excessive JP drainage post radical hysterectomy

I am looking to hear from anyone who has been in my current shoes. I am one week post op after having a radical hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy for what ended up staging as 1b cervical adenocarcinoma (found only by the grace of a routine annual pap smear). I have a JP drain and have been recovering at home for 5 days now. I am having nearly a liter (1000ml) of drainage from my JP drain per 24 hours. My doctor's office has checked my labs to see if it could be urine from a nicked bladder but it is not. I am told the JP drain has to be draining less than 100ml/24 hours to be able to be removed. My drainage amount has not been tapering, has actually increased since hospital discharge! I am very uncomfortable with alot of leakage around the tube, difficulty wearing normal clothes vs nightgowns, recovering from surgery. I have a 3yo and a 4yo and am a stay-at-home mom whose out-of-state family help will be drying up in a week. What could be the cause of this problem? What can I do to fix myself? What should I be asking or telling my doctor?

Thanks for your experiences and ideas,

Gwen

Comments

  • ppaseka
    ppaseka Member Posts: 70
    JP Drainage
    Pay very close attention to temperature. The same thing happened to my wife after her surgery. We questioned the surgeon when the fluid output increased instead of decreasing. He said it was odd but not unusual. She ended up in the hospital with an infection. As soon as the drains came out along with antibiotics she was ok.
  • gturby
    gturby Member Posts: 4
    ppaseka said:

    JP Drainage
    Pay very close attention to temperature. The same thing happened to my wife after her surgery. We questioned the surgeon when the fluid output increased instead of decreasing. He said it was odd but not unusual. She ended up in the hospital with an infection. As soon as the drains came out along with antibiotics she was ok.

    THank you so much. I am on a

    THank you so much. I am on a pain regimen of narcotic tylenol rotating with motrin so I am afraid I would not be able to spot a fever if I were supposed to be having one as the meds might be knocking it down. I have noticed feeling "hot" but not registering a high temp right before next med dose is due. I am afraid maybe they might have left a surgical sponge or something in there but couldn't find anything fishy when reading the operative report. I will pay close attention and take notes to discuss at length with staff at my follow-up appointment this week. Hope your wife is doing ok.

     

    Gwen