Stubborn fluid retention

[lisamarie164]

My mother had double valve replacement almost two weeks ago and she hasn't been able to get off of oxygen yet. They are giving her diuretics and she is still losing fluid but it's not working like it should because when they try to wean her off of oxygen she drops fast. Could this be congestive heart failure? What can be done to get her over this hump? I would appreciate any input on this situation.

 

[PegB]

Sorry, I can't be much help on this. Hopefully, you're in daily contact with her Drs. and they are aware of her fluid retention. (I'm assuming she is home from the hospital). You certainly need to be vigilant with her care as she sounds pretty fragile at this time.

Due to the time and the holiday, you probably won't have too many responses tonight, but there should be a lot of members along tomorrow with advice for you. Wouldn't hurt to start the morning off with a talk with her Dr. and ask him these questions, and how he plans to procede with her care.

Good luck...I'm sure she appreciates you looking out for her.

 

[catwoman]

Lisamarie:

My nephew-in-law works for a group that invests in medical technology. Saw him this weekend & he told me about a company called CHF Solutions that has a new procedure for relieving fluid overload in CHF patients. I did a search here, could not find a hit at vr.com. I don't know how effective this procedure is vs. lasix.

You might want to query your mom's doctors about this company's devices. Don't know how widespread their use is.

http://www.chfsolutions.com/

 

[Ross]

Two weeks out, this is not unusual at all. It may take quite a bit of time before she can be thoroughly weened from O2 and relieved of all the fluid.