Chunky Merlot....

 Warnitng:  There are photos. You might not want to see them.

Also, Babygirl has granted permission for you to see them.  Those of you who know her well....she's laughing at you.

Reflecting on the last post:  Blood clots are all well and good when they are usefully plugging a hole in your body so you don't bleed to death.  Other than that, they can be....problematic.  Now, Babygirl's clots aren't the kind that can travel anywhere but out. There is no connection between the bladder and say, the lungs or heart.  That doesn't mean that they can't wreak havoc locally.

An ultrasound revealed a 10 cm clot in her bladder. For the metric-challenged, that's about 4 inches.  If spherical, we're talking half a liter of blood, one entire transfusion unit more-or-less.  It's not going to fit out of ANY catheter, no matter what size.  

Enter The Urologist with a couple of gallons of saline and some very big syringes.  She explains the nature of the problem to Babygirl:  It's big, it's blocking bladder drainage, and it may be putting pressure on the new kidney.  "We have to break it into small enough pieces to suck it out.  Sadly, I'm going to make you feel worse before I make you feel better." Honestly, a better approach than the doctors who hurt you and tell you you're being a baby about it.

This woman had no ducks to give with regard to putting her weight behind the fluid she was blowing into Babygirl's bladder.  She kept it up for somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. Babygirl broke out in a sweat and stayed that way, but did not complain.  The doc said that older men had been known to scream obscenities at her at this point.

And this is what we got, 4 liters' worth:  

Yes, she's very pregnant.  She was putting the weight of two people into her work today.

The surgeon described them as ranging from "chunky Merlot" to "Hawaiian Punch" to "pink lemonade." I'm not sure what her fascination was with drinks, but....

Babygirl is more comfortable now.  Since this massive (invasion of privacy) irrigation, she has been placed on Continuous Bladder Irrigation (CBI). That means that there is constant addition of saline to the bladder, which then drains out the catheter, creating "a river rather than a pond" to decrease the risk of additional clotting. 

And no, no one is completely sure where the blood is coming from. They are admitting that the amount of blood is unusual, but no one seems particularly worried about it. The one reassuring thing is that it is collecting in the bladder rather than outside of it. THAT would mean they need to go back in and fix something, preferably yesterday. 

DeeDee