Blood Draw Yields Fatty Deposit??

Nurses General Nursing

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Well only been a Nurse for 5 Months! Question is, I was drawing blood from a Midline a few weeks ago and when I looked in the syringe I had to waste and the syringe with my sample in it (both 10cc syringes) I noticed some off white substance floating in both syringes! Now I flushed the midline with 10 cc NS per our protocol and at first thought I had screwed up! I asked some of the more experienced nurses and was informed that it was actually fat from the person! Has anyone had this happen to them and is it possible to have that much fat floating around in your blood if it is fat? I mean it was close to 1 cc combine in this off white material floating in the syringes!

Thanks

Stephan

Specializes in nursery, L and D.

I have a cousin that has some sort of liver disease that makes here cholesterol level reallllly high.......can't remember for the life of me what it is. At times, her level was 2000+. Never seen it for myself, but her mom says her blood doesn't even look like blood, it has so much fat in it. It looks milky yellow, with a pink tinge to it. Now I find that hard to believe, but with all the problems this girl has had most of her life from this disease, I wouldn't be surprised.

Specializes in MICU, ER, SICU, Home Health, Corrections.

Propofol at high doses, especially with liver failure, will yield a nice yellowish cream atop a sample left still for a short while.

Specializes in Med Surg.

And don't be afraid to show the blood to the patient.

My sister's best friend refused to treat her hypercholesterolemia/hyperglycemia, even after her TIA, so Kris got a clear water bottle, put red Kool-Aid, Karo syrup, and Crisco shortening in it and sat the thing down on her friend's bedside table.:barf01:

Some people just learn visually.

Specializes in Hospice, Med/Surg, ICU, ER.

Seen it often.

Usually w/ pt on TPN/lipids - but sometimes not.

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