What causes post surgery complications? hemorrhages during and after surgery?

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   alexadryposted 11 years ago

   What causes post surgery complications? hemorrhages during and after surgery?
   
   My mother in law had surgery yesterday for ovarian cancer. They removed her ovaries, uterus and I think a bit of liver but were unable to remove about 20% of the mass on the liver. The surgery which was supposed to last 3 hours, lasted 6 hours and a half because she was bleeding extensively and needed a transfusion. The morning after, she was brought back to surgery for another hemorrhage, and last I know (we are overseas) they stabilized but doctors think she has a 50% chance of making it tonight.  Why did this happen? and why are her chances of making it so grim?

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   eHealerposted 11 years ago

   Alex, I am so sorry that this is happening to your family. You don't have much information, so I'll discuss with you what I know from my experience as an OR nurse. When removing cancerous tissue, the surgeon knows he must get as much of the cancerous tissue as possible. In order to improve her chance of beating the cancer, he may have removed much cancerous tissue. Ovaries are very vascular, and bleeding is highly likely. The blood vessels might have been already damaged by the cancer, with an increase in bleeding from the surgery. Also, bleeding might be increased due to medications and from the cancers affects on her body. Sometimes the clotting factor is inhibited due to certain cancers, and bleeding is expected. Ovarian cancer is a difficult cancer to beat, it is very aggressive and spreads quickly to other parts of the body. I hope this helps you, My heart goes out to you and your family.

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      alexadryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so kindly for sharing your experience. She did survive the night and made it through. Now she is going through her second chemo and we are waiting to see if there are any improvements. The test results keep you so on edge!

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