Blood clot vs urinary retention priority?

[Giraffel]

Which is more of a priority? A post-op c-section mother a few days after pregnancy with a blood clot in her leg or a mother who has not urinated for at least 10 hours?

This is messing me up because a blood clot could lead to poor perfusion in the leg > tissue damage or it could turn into a pulmonary embolism (thus the priority).

However, poor UOP is r/t decreased perfusion - the C in ABCs. 

[Grande_latte04]

I would think blood clot because of potential for PE

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Please review the anatomy of where the usual postop deep vein thrombosis begins (hint: VEIN) and where it would travel to if it took it into its little brain to go somewhere. Where would it go, and what would happen?

Poor perfusion (of anything) is an ARTERIAL problem.

What happens in a pelvis during labor and delivery that could make it hard for a woman to urinate? How would you evaluate that? How does that differ from renal failure to make urine at all?

When you have the answers, come back and see if we can help you understand anything you find out.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Please review the anatomy of where the usual postop deep vein thrombosis begins (hint: VEIN) and where it would travel to if it took it into its little brain to go somewhere. Where would it go, and what would happen?

Poor perfusion (of anything) is an ARTERIAL problem. What would you check if you suspected an arterial blockage?

What happens in a pelvis during labor and delivery that could make it hard for a woman to urinate? How would you evaluate that? How does that differ from renal failure to make urine at all?

When you have the answers, come back and see if we can help you understand anything you find out.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Guess this student never came back. 
It’s common for people to spazz about a small clot or air bubble in an IV “because it will go to the brain and cause a stroke.” This bespeaks an unfamiliarity with the normal vascular anatomy. 
Let’s follow that little beggar and see where it goes. 
vein > vena cava > right atrium > right ventricle > pulmonary artery > LUNG CAPILLARY BED >   …. ….. …. Oops, that’s it. Your lungs are designed to be a strainer for stuff like that. A small clot will dissolve, a small air bubble will pass thru the capillary wall into the alveolus and whoosh out the airway. A bigger clot can make for real trouble by clogging off a large wedge of lung. Not a good thing at all, and a big pulmonary embolus can kill ya by preventing that segment of lung from participating in gas exchange.
But absent an intracardiac defect (atrial or ventricular septal defect AND altered pressures when right heart BP is higher than left) there’s no anatomical path for stroke.