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What Causes Persistent Diarrhea After Spinal Fusion Surgery?
My dad who is 73 years old had Spinal fusion surgrey 2 weeks ago. He never bounced back, he has a cath in because he was not able to urinate and he was very tired and was having watery stools. They put an NG tube down him and thought maybe he had a bowel obstruction. Kept him in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. They sent him home Friday Aug 5 with the cath in. He was still having the watery stools, but no more mention of bowl obstruction. Now he is not eating for drinking. His urine output since yesterday is only 300. What little he has in the bag is very dark. He only has one kidney. Our concern is that maybe his kidney is shutting down. Home Health care nurse came yesterday and she said his blood pressure was low due to dehydration. What to take him to hospital, but he says he is not going he will wait til tomorrow. Just not sure what to do
Tue, 23 Jul 2019
Hello,
Your dad is experiencing complications after spinal fusion surgery. Patient do have bowel complications after this surgery.
Since urine output is low & he is having persistent diarrhea you need to take him to ER. Let him get physically examined. He needs urgent medical support.
He needs intravenous fluids & antibiotics to get better. Re-hydration & resuscitation at a proper time will prevent further kidney damage. You can consult his Surgeon & a Nephrologist. Get him treated at the earliest.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Nupur K, General & Family Physician
Your dad is experiencing complications after spinal fusion surgery. Patient do have bowel complications after this surgery.
Since urine output is low & he is having persistent diarrhea you need to take him to ER. Let him get physically examined. He needs urgent medical support.
He needs intravenous fluids & antibiotics to get better. Re-hydration & resuscitation at a proper time will prevent further kidney damage. You can consult his Surgeon & a Nephrologist. Get him treated at the earliest.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Nupur K, General & Family Physician
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