Doing a Wash Out

Lynnea continued to bleed all night. It appears that her bleeding has slowed some, but it's still difficult to tell how much blood she's losing because she continues to bleed around the chest tube. They managed to remove the clot from the chest tube, and blood is flowing through it, but it is also bleeding around it. Her blood pressures are still a bit low, but a bit more stable than they were when she arrived in the PICU. Dr. St. Louis is now setting up to do a chest wash out. Her chest incision is still open because she's on ECMO. Doing a wash out will remove the clots that are building up in her chest and around her heart, which will make it easier for her heart to beat effectively, but it carries the risk of causing the bleeding to increase again.