After partial pancreatectomy my mom died 6 days later from postoperative bleeding aspirating is this common and wouldn't you look for hemorrhaging?

Answer 1

I am so sorry to hear about your lose. I have recently had a total pancreatectomy and after suffering for years with Chronic Panc, I have tried to read any and all material I can get my hands on. What happened to your mom isn't that common. The fatality rates for this surgery are actually quite low. She would have been in more danger of getting pneumonia or an abscess. The took my spleen out during the surgery, because of the risk of detangling the pancreas from the spleen is time consuming, tricky and could result in hemorrhaging. With a partial pancreatectomy if the spleen wasn't removed, it possible that could have been the cause of the bleeding. I was in ICU for the first 5 days and then the next 2 wks in the hospital also. With something that hemorrhaging internal that is being aspirated should have been caught ASAP even with a quick check using an oximetry meter on a finger. It sounds like this was very fast moving, but still labs should have been off, her condition suddenly worsening is also a reason to pull an on call doc. If she may not have had such a terribly taxing surgery, there might have been something that could've been done as far as suctioning the blood in the lungs. They would still need to have found the source of the bleed and they may have been too much for your mom's body to take. I wish there was an easy answer here. My heart goes out to you. It should have been caught. Whether once it was caught if there was anything could be done, or tolerated is a different question. But this isn't a normal outcome to partial or total pancreatectomy