[durt]

That's fucked

[LadyCPlum]

Sponges and gauze are the most common items left behind after a surgery. And the results are usually not pretty.

[Daley]

I'm also surprised that anything would get left behind, but I know it does even though it's protocol to count every object used afterwards. Surgery is a messy business though.
Great find all the same

[Lythal]

Ive always wondered how often this happens to people that have to have big wounds packed. My boyfriend had pneumothorax and they left a stitch inside him (wasnt a disolving one). His wound looked like a bumpy gun shot or something, then about a month or so later he thought he had another hole because he kept having a sharp pain, he asked me to look at the wound and you could see this blue stitch under the completely healed skin, so he had to go back to get it cut out!

[corpsehands]

I'll give you 5 bucks if you eat it.

[Daley]

Originally Posted by corpsehands ↗

I'll give you 5 bucks if you eat it.

Throwing up

[corpsehands]

Originally Posted by Daley ↗

Throwing up

[LadyCPlum]

There was an ep of The Monsters Inside Me where a man who'd hadd surgery for a stomach problem had some gauze left in his stomach. Caused his intestine to perforate. When they opened him up the second time to see what the heck was wrong, his entire abdomen was filled with shit. LITERALLY. They spent TWO FUCKING HOURS suctioning the stuff out before they could actually identify so much as ONE of his internal organs. My mother and I always watch the show, we love the show, and I have a much stronger stomach than her, but I nearly had to say hello to my supper again.

I know some hospitals actually have procedures in place where they x-ray every patient who has had major surgery, to double-check for anything that might have accidentally been left inside, even after double and triple counting all instruments and packing that where used during the procedure. Would something like a towel or gauze be seen on a x-ray? Or would a CT scan or MRI have to be done to detect something that's not metal?

[killedbycuriosity]

Originally Posted by LadyCPlum ↗

I know some hospitals actually have procedures in place where they x-ray every patient who has had major surgery, to double-check for anything that might have accidentally been left inside, even after double and triple counting all instruments and packing that where used during the procedure. Would something like a towel or gauze be seen on a x-ray? Or would a CT scan or MRI have to be done to detect something that's not metal?

An x-ray would be a good idea, however, it depends. If there's a lot of swelling it wouldn't do any good because it would be hard to tell the difference between swollen tissue and if there's a foreign object. And depending on the surgery, you can't do MRIs. People with pacemakers can't undergo those sort of imaging, and implants can't have them for at least 6 months until their implants have settled properly. (At least, my mom couldn't have any such imaging for more than 6 months after she had her shoulder replaced.)

I think that hospitals have started putting bar codes on any kind of packaging so they don't have to physically count, they just have to scan before they use.

Like I said, though, this guy was lucky it encapsulated because it could've attacked his (?) organs and it would've been bad news.

[Mollydoublybarrly]

One of my biggest surgery fears, second only to waking up feeling everything and being able to do Fuck all about it.