Ashley lost some blood on treatment tonight..what to do?

[SteveK87]

Tonight Ashley was finishing up her treatment and somehow when she was about to begin the process of returning her blood the line came disconnected from the saline bag and she lost all of the blood in her arterial line.  She does home hemo on the NxStage machine.  Needless to say it seeems like a lot of blood loss and I'm just concerned if there is anything to do or it's just considered a loss and she will be drained the next couple of days physically.  Any foods or fluids she should eat or drink more than usual to try and help recover the lost blood?  She says it's nothing to worry about but of course I'm more concerned than she is.  Also, Her nurse who is on call never answers her phone so we couldn't get advice from her.  What really pisses me off is Ashley rarely ever calls her...maybe once a month...and she NEVER picks up and were lucky if she calls back a half hour later which by that point is useless because we needed her at the time not a half hour after a situation.  We called her over a half hour ago now and she still hasn't called.  So, on another note how do we go about getting a new nurse?

[Riki]

I don't know much about nxstage, but I don't think there's much left in the lines at the end, less than half a litre.. I'd say to watch the blood pressure.. give her something to drink, cuz her fluids will be down, and definitely find a new nurse

[MaryD]

A blood spill always looks a lot more voluminous than it actually is, too.

[cattlekid]

I have had to leave both lines and the filter full of blood and the NxStage tech said it was less than a coffee cup full.

[lmunchkin]

Go with what she says she is feeling.  If she seems weakened by it, then maybe take her to the ER.  But as Riki said above, on rinse backs, there is not enough to worry about.  I have had a couple times I had to leave blood in the lines.  Only if she gets light headed or weazy, she is probably fine!  I wouldnt worry too much about it.

Just keep an observatory eye on her for a few hours.

God Bless,
lmunchkin

[bevvy5]

Procedure if we lose a set up due to clotting - we are using older style machines - is to do bloodwork to check whether it's had an impact.  But the one time we had to do that, nothing came of it.  If you're due for blood work you might do it a bit sooner than later.

We had a heparin line that backed up - it doesn't take a lot of blood to make it look like the CSIs should be called in.  What a mess!!

[boswife]

For us,I'd go in the morning and just get a quick little blood draw to check hemoglobin.  Agreed thats not much blood she lost, but it may be enough for a drophemoglobin in  that may need a boost.  Only thing is, you have a sucky nurse who "I" wouldnt trust to tell me what to do next ie.... transfusion etc.   Everyones a bit different situation and for Bo, well he 'had' a tendency to run low so he couldnt afford even a little loss, now, i think he could handle it but still would check.  Just me 

[SteveK87]

Thanks for the responses everyone.  She decided to make today one of her off days just so she can relax a bit instead of going back on the machine within 12 hours.  Physically she doesn't seem more tired than usual or anything like that so I think everything should be ok.