Nasty clogs in JP drain

Warning:  I am going to type about my nasty findings that were clogging up my JP drain. So....hit the back button unless you have a iron stomach. Ok..so I am thinking about 15 hours has gone by and I am not draining any serous fluid and I am thinking yay!  No more fluid woohooo. My SO who is a paramedic says he wants to look at it.  Lo and behold it was clogged with some kind of "white stringy" substance.  So then I am thinking ok that'll get it flowin again....nope. He looks again...waaaaaaay down towards the filter where PS had stitched it in good and secure, there was another clot like substance. So askes how long since its drained...I tell him about 15 hours maybe?  He says it aint gonna drain anymore till the clot is cleared.  It's really late to call PS....SO gets some surgical scissors and we wipe down the area with alcohol preps and he cuts the stitch holding he JP drain in place and manipulates the clot out.   I am not grossed out by much ok...but this was nasty folks. Whatever was blocking it was not fatty tissue I swear to you..this can come through the drain somtimes.  It was not a blood clot.  The only thing I can describe it as is rubber cement with blood streaks running through it.  It was VERY hard but pliable. Anyone wanna guess the mysterious clog?? I called PS and he said with my hx of seroma he wants to keep the drain in till I see him on tuesday to have it out hopefully.        So in the meantime I am gonna secure it with some medipor tape and 4x4's (hey i just happend to have those layin around my house from the back of the ambulance *cough cough* of course I don't swipe them how dare you think this!!!) I describe the "OMGWTF is this"clot to nurse and she is like...hmmmm I don't know. I have to say I've never seen this before. Any takes on what it might be?

Are you sure he didn't use rubber cement to hold you together?   Did you save it? Take it in to the PS and make him tell you what it was. At least your drain isn't clogged anymore, right?

Take it easy!

Lisa

I do not have clue what it is but I had some white stringy stuff in my drain too.  It sortof reminded me of the stuff you see attached to an egg white if that makes any sense. Red

Leftover fatty tissue that was loosened by lipo but didn't get sucked out? Hey.. I have a stock of medipore and 4x4s (and 2x2s for that matter),...... but no back of an ambulance to keep them in ;) I hated having to baby an unattached drain. One of my drains after my LBL was in for 5 weeks.  I guess the stitch they use to keep them attached usually only lasts about 3 weeks before it works it's way out of the skin.  After a shower, I noticed the white portion of the tubing and that the stitch was gone.  PS told me that as long as it was still draining it hadn't lose it's vacuum so to wrap the tubing near my body with paper tape something stronger if I had it (used medipore) then to make tape the other end of the tape to my body and cover the whole thing with a 4x4.  I made it two more weeks with it that way until a seroma worked it's way through my incision line and the PS pulled the drain so it wouldn't be a source of infection in. Did you save the clot to show the PS? Beth

Hey Beth, No this just happend last niht. Problem is, the JP has lost it's vaccuum suction.  I will move a certain way, and all of the sudden you hear "shweeeeeeeeeep" the bulb inflates with air. It's kinda funny....but not. I have to pu**** back in (germs!) and deflate the bulb. I wish my seroma would drain through my incision, but I kid you not, my incision is usually completely closed in a week after surgery.  Nothing is going to come out. So I'm stuck having to rely on the drain to remedy the seroma. I have not seen PS yet, will see him on tuesay. I did save the substance, I will probably bring it in. Thanks... Donna oh by the way..he didn't do lipo so I know it's not from the lipo.

You need to talk to your Dr. ASAP, Like call and have him paged if possible. I would not wait until tuesday. It is a really bad idea to be pushing any exposed part of the drain back in, every time you do that you are introducing bacteria into your wound and increasing your risk of infection.

Girl, with that kind of a pre warning...especially from you, I read this with one eye open.  Geeze, it sounds like you were implanted with an alien baby.  Ewwwwwe!  Let us know if there is any other possible explanation.  I doubt it. Mary

This could only happen to me and Carol Burnett but I swear the following just happend. I had just went to "beat a rug" outside and the dust was making my nose itchy. I was going to jump in the shower but had to pee first. I took off my dressings that I covered where the drain inserts into the incision, and sat on the toilet. I then had to sneeze. I kept sneezing and could not stop..I was sneezing so much I couldn't even pee, so I stood up and sneezed what I thought was the last time and the force from the sneeze caused my JP drain to shoot out of my body and land squarely into the toilet.  Micheal Jordan doesn't have this type of aim. Woody Allen couldn't have written this. I toyed with the idea (just for a microsecond) on how to disinfect the drain and re-insert it.   I had 4 more days to go until I see PS..how in the HELL do I explain this one?? Better yet, will he believe me??

Now look here Princess , I've been through five rounds of plastics and trust me...I have absolutely NO PROBLEM believing that story!  I'm the one who was wrapped in duct tape, remember?   As bazarre as this may seem, unless your doc is Doogie Howser, he's probably been around long enough to be proud that you had enough sense NOT to re-insert it!  Good luck 'splaining that one, Mary

My previous post was before I read this - I still think page your Dr. and than god you didn't try to reinsert anyhting - you would probaly have ended up septic.