Of surgical tragedies.

DSC_5360, originally uploaded by oyclubsnap2.

A quick update:

My dad is currently warded in the SGH surgical ICU for a simple liver right lobebectomy gone horribly wrong. Apparently the surgeon couldn't stop the bleeding from the liver parenchyma. This was unexpected and took us entirely by surprise. He had torrential bleeding which was unresolved after 3 applications of fibrin glue and 2 applications of surgical packing.

As a result, my dad subsequently went into haemorrhagic hypovolemic shock. Currently he is sedated and on a respirator, NG tube and IV adrenaline, dopamine, propanolol and insulin. His vital signs are stable with his BP hovering at 90/55, CVP 18 and HR 97. His O2 saturation is also over 90%. His recent ECG done did not show signs of recent ischaemic changes. He has already had 20 units of packed blood infusion. However, the blood bank is also apparently, very low in its stores. His 24hr urine output is 450mls which is still encouraging.

Due to the continued bleeding, he has electively taken a new trial drug, Novoseven in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The drug is a systemic procoagulant (recombinant factor VII) which has its own possible set of complications such as DVT, stroke, MI and microvascular lung failure. In two studies done, the drug did not appear to improve survival function.

see: link

The bleeding has, as of 1.00 am, stopped though chances of survival at this point are still touch and go (about 30% mortality at this point).

If he survives the night, he will still have to face a 2nd operation to remove the surgical packing left in his abdomen (to compress the liver), possible complications from acute renal failure and lastly the Novoseven therapy side effects.

all prayers are welcome.
thanks for all the concern guys.

im fine. hopefully - its all very sudden.

*pictured: my grandmother, just one day before this, who wanted to dress up to play Surgeon*